iChooseYou!
by RoseSignerAlchemist
Summary: Carly's cousin Jade is experiencing the Pokemon world firsthand. Can she deal with her feelings for the Violet City Gym Leader, help stop an evil organization, AND find out about her real past? *Somewhat AU* *OC x Falkner*
1. Chapter 1: iGet an Idea

"Yes…yes…YES!" Jade Ashera Villerubia cried, jumping off of her bed, pumping her fists--and Nintendo DS--into the air, and spinning around. "Check it out, Amber! I beat Lance…using ONLY my Sneasel and red Gyarados!"

Amber Lee Spier grunted from where she sat leaning against Jade's chest of drawers. "Big deal! Remember, I defeated Lance using only my Ampharos and red Gyarados in SoulSilver!" She smoothed out her chestnut brown ponytail cockily.

"But your Ampharos has a higher attack stat than my Sneasel, so it was a lot harder for me to beat him."

"But your Sneasel has a higher speed, so we're even!"

Jade thought a minute, letting her light green eyes drift upwards. "True, Sneasel _is _pretty fast…alright, we're even, but I still get to brag. I mean, I just defeated the champion! Don't ruin it for me!" She flipped her long, wavy orange hair over her shoulder and directed her eyes back to her Nintendo DSi screen, where a guy who may or may not have been Billy Mayes had been saying "Jade defeated Champion Lance!" throughout the entire argument.

Outside Jade's bedroom window, the bright New Orleans sun was beginning to sink down behind the Gulf of Mexico, casting rays of orange, red, and purple over the city. Both Jade and Amber lived in the French Quarter of the city, where they had a great view of the Mississippi River _and_ the Gulf, and the neighborhood was beautiful and quaint as well. (Jade lived alone, as her parents had died in a fire not long after her sixteenth birthday, and Amber lived with her Aunt Bee, in case you were wondering.) The two sixteen-year-old girls were about as different as it was possible to be, but they had been best friends for years.

Jade was a lighthearted peacemaker who liked being around nature. Amber was more of a pushy, aggressive person who liked being around action. They were alike in one aspect, however: their love for _Pokemon _video games, anime, and manga.

Amber plopped down onto Jade's bed, hanging upside-down. "Remember when you first started playing your HeartGold game and picked Chikorita as your starter? Falkner totally owned you…_twice!_ You had to battle about fifty million wild Sentret and Pidgey before it finally evolved into Bayleef and you could win! I was surprised that there were any Sentret and Pidgey left in the game!" She laughed.

Jade pouted. "May I remind you that it took you _four _tries to beat Clair with your Typhlosion in your SoulSilver game?"

"That's only because you refused to trade me your Sneasel for thirty measly minutes_, Jay-Jay. _"

"I had to work my butt off to make that Sneasel like me, and if I had traded it to you, its happiness would have been reset all over again! Plus, you could have caught your own dern Sneasel in Ice Path! I may be too nice for my own good, but _not_ when it comes from my video games. And how many times do I have to tell you NOT to call me Jay-Jay?" Jade hated it when Amber called her by her _highly_ original nickname, modeled off of Dawn's nickname from _Pokemon_ (Dee-Dee).

To call these girls "Pokemaniacs" would be the understatement of the year. Their lives didn't revolve around Pokemon, but they did know almost everything there was to know about it. I mean, who do _you _think figured out how to clone items and proved the Mew-under-the-truck rumor false? (A/N: Okay, I _do _realize that someone else did all that, but just roll with it for the sake of the story, okay?) They even started their own two-person YouTube music group doing covers of songs from Pokemon, called Johto GSC. Amber was very close to completing her National Poke`dex, and Jade was helping her out, but Jade herself wasn't interested in catching all the Pokemon in the game. She figured it wasn't all that important, since all you got was a flashy leveled-up Trainer Card and a virtual certificate. What was the point? She did better raising one strong, well-balanced team.

"You know," Jade mused, joining Amber in hanging upside-down on her bed. "If I were a _real _Pokemon Trainer, I'd only used Grass-types. Just Grass. Well, maybe some Bug-types, too, but mostly Grass-types."

"Bad idea, Jay-Jay!" Amber countered, ignoring Jade's request to stop calling her that. "You'd be at a disadvantage to almost everything! Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, Bug…and you wouldn't stand much of a chance against other Grass-types, Steel-types, or Dragon-types either."

"Yeah, but I'd have an advantage over Water, Rock, and Ground-types," Jade argued. "Besides, a lot of Grass-types have secondary types like Poison and Flying, so that neutralizes two of their weaknesses right there. And they have a lot of useful disabling moves like Sleep Powder and Stun Spore. And they're just awesome! I don't like to judge by Type alone. You've gotta think about moves, stats, and your Pokemon's nature, too."

"Well, if _I _was a real Pokemon Trainer, I'd train Fire and Electric types. They're the most powerful, not to mention intimidating, types in the game! And the Electric-type is one of the best in defense, since its only weakness is Ground."

Jade laughed. "But don't forget, you'd be totally screwed if you were battling a Ground-type! Fire and Electric are both weak against Ground!"

"Oh, who asked you?" Amber growled.

Jade flinched in mock fear. "Sorry!" she squeaked.

Amber laughed. "Kidding! Hey, _Arceus and the Jewel of Life _is coming on in a few minutes. Wanna watch it?"

"Sure! But…don't you think we should start on that assignment for Creative Writing first?"

Both girls looked at each other, then smiled and said, "Nah!"

"After all, we've got all summer," Amber pointed out, hoisting herself back up to sit upright. Jade simply did a back flip off the bed and landed feet first on the floor. "Really! Giving us _homework_ over _summer break!_ It should be outlawed, it really should."

"It's kind of a hard topic to write on, too," Jade added as she flipped on the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall. "I mean, really. 'Your Greatest Adventure'? That sounds so cheesy and predictable."

"Heh, the greatest adventure I ever had was trying to prove my Uncle Waldo innocent of robbing a gas station," Amber laughed.

"You have an Uncle Waldo?" Jade asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I told you about him. He's a lawyer, remember?"

Jade giggled lightly, then turned her attention back to finding Cartoon Network. She knew by now to just smile and nod when Amber started talking about her in-prison-or-on-parole relatives. (And there were a lot of them.)

I know what you're probably thinking right now: Jade and Amber sound a lot like Carly Shay and Sam Puckett. Well, it's only natural that they would be a lot alike, because they're cousins. That's right, Jade was Carly's third cousin, and Amber was Sam's. The distant families of both Carly and Sam lived in Louisiana; it was Carly and Sam's sides of the families that had moved to Washington.

The girls spend the whole movie singing along loudly to the song "Battle Cry" from the opening battle scene, laughing at how Ash sounded like a girl, crying when Arceus almost died, and pointing out random details they had missed the last time they watched it that normal human eyes could not normally detect. After the movie ended, they both slouched back against Jade's bed and sighed.

"I never get tired of that movie," Jade stated.

"Neither do—I know this has nothing to do with anything, but I have a crazy idea!" Amber suddenly squealed.

"Oooooh, I love it when you get crazy ideas, girl! What is it?" Jade asked eagerly.

"We're going to visit Carly and Sam next week, right?"

"Right…"

"And we're coming during a week they're doing iCarly, right?"

"I like where this is going…right…"

"So why don't we ask them if we can perform a few songs on the show as Johto GSC?!"

Jade of course, agreed enthusiastically, though she wasn't sure that iCarly's viewers would get much out of _Pokemon_ music. She was sort of an agreeing machine and had a hard time saying no to people.

And so, Amber and Jade called up Carly from Jade's cell, who excitedly agreed to let them sing on the show, saying that they'd been getting a lot of requests from fans to showcase an anime and that they hadn't had any live music on the show lately. They spent the next twenty minutes deciding which songs to sing, and eventually picked "Battle Cry" from the _Arceus and the Jewel of Life _movie, "We Will Meet Again" from the _Lucario and the Mystery of Mew _movie, "My Best Friends" from the _2BA Master_ album, a fan-dubbed version of "Aim to Be A Pokemon Master" from the first season of the Japanese version of the anime, and "Brother My Brother" from _Pokemon: The First Movie._

After having a few battles over Nintendo DS Wi-Fi, the girls fell asleep on the blanket-covered floor, the cool night breeze drifting in through the open window of Jade's bedroom.


	2. Chapter 2: iHave a Dream

**Hello, people of Earth and beyond! This is the second chapter of my story, so enjoy! Love all of my readers!**

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"And that's how you inflate a Gibby using only an old sock, a large electric fan, and a can of pressurized lilac-scented air freshener!" Carly announced as Sam pushed a rather sick-looking Gibby out the door of the iCarly studio. She bounded back up and joined Carly in front of the camera.

"And now on iCarly," Sam started, "we've been getting a lot of emails from you guys lately asking us to feature an anime on the show, and for those of you who don't know what that is, it's a nerdy Japanese cartoon!"

"Hey!" Freddie snapped from behind the camera. "I'll have you know that anime is extremely cool!"

"Can it, Fredward!" Sam retorted. "Let the stars do the talkin', wouldja?"

Freddie sulked.

"Please forgive Sam's general lack of a filter between her mouth and her brain, all of you anime fans out there," Carly apologized. "Anyway, you asked us to showcase an anime, and we picked…"

Sam pressed a button on her remote, causing a recording of "Gotta catch 'em all, gotta catch 'em all!" to play.

"_POKEMON_!" Carly and Sam both cried.

Carly said, "And we have decided to call this segment of iCarly…"

"_iCHOOSE YOU!"_

"And to commemorate this monumentous occasion," Sam stated, "Carly and I have asked my cousin Amber and her cousin Jade to come and sing a few songs from _Pokemon_ for us!"

Carly continued, "So, without further ado, please welcome…"

Sam went on, "All the way from New Orleans, Louisiana…"

"JOHTO GSC!" the blonde and brunette yelled in unison again as Sam pressed the applause button on her remote. Almost immediately, Jade and Amber came running into the studio, cheering and hugging their cousins and Freddie and whatnot. They were dressed in their usual show attire: darkwash skinny jeans, a gold-colored tank top and gold strappies for Jade (to represent _Pokemon Gold_), and a silver-colored tank top and silver strappies for Amber (to represent _Pokemon Silver_). Amber's hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, while Jade's was in a single braid that hung down her back.

"Thank you guys so much for letting us perform on the show!" Amber thanked the iCarly team warmly. "Oh, and Fredward? That shirt makes you look like Gibby."

"Yeah, that's _definitely_ Sam's cousin," Freddie grumbled.

"Moving right along, the first song we're doing is called 'Aim to Be A Pokemon Master'," Jade quickly managed to change the subject. "Freddie, if you will?"

Freddie pressed a button on the camera, and the music started.

* * *

"That was a great show, guys!" Freddie congratulated Carly, Sam, Jade, and Amber as they made their way down the stairs to the kitchen where Spencer was waiting for them. Jade and Amber had changed back into jeans and t-shirts. "I checked the ratings and it turns out this was one of our best viewer turnouts ever!"

"Yeah, and we're gonna lose all of those viewers on the next show because we just _had_ to show a geeky cartoon on the show," Sam groaned. She never had been one to keep her opinions inside her head. Like Carly said, she had a distinct lack of a filter between her mouth and her brain.

"Not that I don't like you guys," Sam instantly corrected herself, gesturing to Jade and Amber. "You two are awesome. It's just the _cartoon_ I think is geeky."

"You're not the only fighter in here, cuz," Amber threatened playfully. "But _I _will be if you keep insulting my anime like that!" She crossed her arms over her chest, daring Sam to continue.

"Besides, the viewers apparently wanted it to keep requesting it like that," Carly pointed out.

"Are you kidding?!" Sam cried. "It was just as bad as when all of those video game geeks were in our living room watching Spencer and that Sasha Striker chick play Pac-Rat!"

Jade had been keeping her mouth shut the entire time, silently taking Sam's probably joking insults, but ones that she looked at as real. She didn't like to be thought badly of by other people, even if it was something so silly as being thought of as a "video game geek." Amber didn't really care about what other people said about her; she could just scare them into never even thinking it again.

"Guys!" Spencer cried, popping up in front of the stairs and startling Jade and Carly so much that they squealed in fright. "Great show tonight! And in honor of the aforementioned great show and our extremely talented visitors, I have prepared for you…spaghetti tacos and pudding!"

"Alright! Food!" Sam cheered, automatically dashing towards the kitchen and sitting down at the bar.

"I see you're just as crazy as I left you, Spencer," Jade joked as she, Amber, Carly, and Freddie joined Sam.

"Thank you so much for that amazing compliment, Miss Villerubia!" Spencer replied, beginning to dish out the spaghetti for the tacos.

"So, Jade, Amber," Freddie started, "I play Pokemon games, too. If you guys wanna battle or trade with over Wi-Fi, I'll give you my Friend Code."

"If you guys wanna whoodie-whattie over who I'll give you my whatnow?" Carly repeated, obviously not getting it.

"Obviously you guys have never played _Pokemon_," Jade sighed. "A Friend Code is a code that you can plug into your Nintendo DS or DSi to let you communicate with people over your _Pokemon _video game. It lets you trade and battle Pokemon with the person who has that Friend Code. Understand?"

"Uh…I think," Carly replied.

* * *

"And then, Miss Ackerman said, 'Well, if the poll says we shouldn't be together…then I HATE YOU! AND THE INTERNET!'" Carly reenacted the Spencer-Miss Ackerman predicament for Jade and Amber. The two girls had already been rolling on the floor laughing, so this only made them laugh harder to the point where they were almost crying. Sam had gone out to rent a movie for their little sleepover.

"H-how do you guys get so much action here?" Amber stammered, not completely over her giggle fit yet. "I mean, your heartbroken history teacher dating your brother, getting trapped in a mean teacher's closet full of Randy Jacksons, taking on idea-stealing Dingo Channel TV writers…it's insane! And totally not fair! It's so _boring_ in Louisiana!"

"Who knows?" Carly shrugged. "We're just trouble magnets, I guess."

"Hey, any of you guys seen my bracelet?" Jade asked, rummaging around through their sleeping bags on the floor.

"Is that it right over there?" Amber asked, pointing.

"…yeah, that's it! Thanks, Amber," Jade said as she picked it up and fastened the charm bracelet around her wrist.

"That's really pretty, Jade," Carly told her. "When did you get it?"

"I put it together just last month," Jade replied, sitting up and smoothing the wrinkles out of her green cami and white pajama shorts. "Amber gave me the chain and a charm for my birthday, so I just added the charms."

"Cool," Carly commended her. "Speaking of which, I read this article on the internet one time on how charms on charm bracelets can have an effect on your life or something."

"I read that, too," Jade went on, "so I picked charms that I thought would represent me, you know?"

"So, what do they all mean?" Carly asked, leaning forward to get a better look at the bracelet.

"Well—" Jade gestured to each charm as she described it. "The half-heart best friend charm is the one that Amber gave me, so it represents our friendship. The silver crescent moon and star means that my wishes will be granted. The gold sun means I'll have an abundant life. The multicolored butterfly means I'll have a colorful life. The pink flower means that love will blossom for me soon. The green aventurine heart means that I'll be healed from all heartbreak. And the little teardrop peridot is my birthstone."

"What are you gonna put on those last few empty links?" Carly asked, looking at a small bare portion of the silver chain.

"I'm not sure," Jade replied, looking thoughtful. "I just haven't found the right charms yet."

"GUYS!" Sam yelled as she burst through the door into the studio. "I've got _Paranormal Activity_! What are we waiting for, let's watch it!"

If the four girls learned anything of value that night, it was this: Never, ever, EVER watch a movie with the title _Paranormal Activity_ in the dark. Spencer had to come upstairs five times and tell them to keep the screaming down.

Jade and Amber couldn't help wondering if any wild Gastly or Duskull were going to attack them when they were least expecting it.

It took a while, but the girls finally managed to get to sleep.

Jade, however, was getting anything _but_ rest…

* * *

_The entrance to a dark forest stood in stark contrast to a glowing sunset behind it. Jade stood in front of the forbearing scene. Three teenage girls, one with deep blue hair and the other with black hair streaked with purple, and the last with curly blonde hair who looked a lot like Sam, lay unconscious on either side of the path. The first two held a Riolu and a Togepi in their arms, respectively._

_Somehow she knew that, whatever had happened to the three Trainers, she would be next._

"_JADE!" she heard a male voice call out to her from behind. She tried to respond, but her vocal cords refused to function, along with her voluntary muscles. All she could do was stand there rooted to the spot and wait for something to happen._

_A shadowy outline appeared in the forest. A boy with long red hair and metallic black eyes glared at her from within the shadows._

_Jade heard a deafening roar as a bright flash of fire engulfed her vision…_

_

* * *

_

"Jade! Your breakfast is getting cold! Are you still asleep?"

"AAAH!" Jade screamed as she woke with a start and wrenched upward. The satiny purple comforter of the bed she had been sleeping in slid to the floor, but she didn't notice as she tried to get her erratic breathing under control.

_That's the third time this month I've had that dream, _she thought. _This is beyond freaky. Is God trying to send me a subliminal message or something?_

Wait a minute…she had fallen asleep on the _floor_!

Now panicking slightly, Jade leapt to the floor looked around the strange room for a moment. It looked like any normal bedroom would—a bed, a dresser, a desk with a laptop computer on it, a bookshelf, a CD rack, a window seat—but at the same time, something wasn't quite normal about it. It looked weird, like something was wrong with her depth perception…

She went over to a full-body mirror mounted on the wall and looked at herself. She looked the same as she had before--orange hair, green eyes, in pajamas--except for one tiny little change:

"OH MY GOD! I'M AN ANIME CHARACTER!"

* * *

**DUNDUNDUN! Just what is going on here?! What has happened to Jade?! Why am I talking without apostrophes?!?!?!?!**

**...Find out in the next chapter. Read and review!**


	3. Chapter 3: iAm In the Pokemon World

**Hey, ya'll! Welcome to the third chapter of my first story on Fanfiction! Woot woot! Hope you enjoy!**

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**"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Jade panicked, continuing to stare at herself and her strange surroundings in the mirror.

_What the crap is going on?! _she thought. _Am I still dreaming? Where am I?! And more importantly…WHY am I here, wherever 'here' is?!_

"Jade, is everything alright up there?"

The orange-haired girl gasped at the new voice, the same one she had heard briefly when she had awoken from her dream. It couldn't be…both of her parents had died in a fire just before her sixteenth birthday. There was _no way_ that voice could be her mom's.

Or could it? Nothing seemed to be normal about this situation…maybe…

Clinging to a perhaps false hope, Jade flung open the door of the bedroom, ran down a flight of stairs, and came out into an open living room with a kitchen connected onto it. After pausing for a moment to take in the scenery, she scanned the room for whoever had addressed her. The only person she saw was a woman with short bluish-black hair and indigo eyes, going about her business in the kitchen.

The spark of hope she had been clinging to immediately faded out—_snap_.

"You're not my mom," Jade mumbled to herself.

The woman, noticing Jade, turned and laughed. "Dear, isn't it a bit early for one of your jokes? Speaking of which, you usually don't sleep in this late."

_Usually? I'm usually not here at all! _"Ma'am, I don't think you understand, I'm not—"

"Oh! I almost forgot. Your Poke`gear just got back from the shop yesterday. I left it in your room…"

_Will this lady EVER stop interrupting me? I—wait a minute. Poke`gear?_

"…and after you get ready, you should stop by Professor Elm's lab. He said he wanted to talk to you about something important."

_Professor Elm?! I'm not only an anime character…I'M A POKEMON CHARACTER! Uh…so…what do I do now?_

Jade stood stock still for a moment, then shrugged and turned to go back up the stairs. "Okay!"

_Well, since I'm here and it doesn't look like I'll be getting back to Seattle anytime soon, why not roll with it?_

* * *

"…cause nothing can stop this journey across this unknown land, and like a fire that keeps on burning, we will make our stand and we will meet again…" Jade sang to herself quietly as she rummaged through the closet that was apparently hers until she found a spring green tank top, a pair of khaki shorts, and a white messenger bag with green accents. She dressed quickly, slid her feet into a pair of green-and-white tennis shoes, clipped the pink-and-white flip-top Poke`gear that she had indeed found in her room onto the strap of her bag, yanked her hair into a quick ponytail, and clasped her charm bracelet around her left wrist.

_Hmmm…I wonder if this is appropriate for a meeting with a Pokemon professor, _Jade thought, assessing her appearance with a critical eye. _Eh, I suppose it's okay. It's better than what my character wore in HeartGold, anyway. _She shuddered slightly as she thought of the awful-excuse-for-a-female-player-character-who-was-more-like-a-Mario-fangirl's outfit. She found the hyper-short overalls and poofy hat slightly scary. Okay, VERY scary, actually.

She laughed. _Yeah, that outfit is pretty ridiculous. But heck, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm actually _replacing _Kotone here, so I probably won't be seeing much of it!_

She laughed again before heading towards her bedroom door. As she opened it, however, she was greeted by an unexpected little visitor.

"Pichu, pichu!" the Pichu at Jade's feet cried as it looked up into her face with its adorable black eyes.

Jade stooped down scratched the baby Electric-type between its ears. "Aw, look at you!"

"Piiiiiiichuuuuu…" it sighed happily.

"So I guess you're my 'mom's' pet, huh?" Jade asked, allowing the Pichu to hop up onto her shoulder.

"Pichu pi!" Pichu replied.

"I'm guessing that means yes?"

"Pi!"

Jade giggled. "Come on, little guy. Let's go downstairs."

She ran back down the stairs and into the living room with Pichu, who leapt off of her shoulder and ran over to Jade's "mom."

"Oh, hi there, Reep!" she cried, gently patting the Pichu on the head. She looked up and addressed Jade. "Are you heading out now, Jade dear?"

Jade nodded. "Yeah. I'll be back in a few." _I think. All depends on which rival character shows up to crush my hopes and dreams. They always seem to show up at inconvenient times._

"Alright, I'll see you later then, sweetie!"

"Seeya!" Jade returned the farewell as she opened the front door and went out into New Bark Town.

_Okay, if I remember correctly, Professor Elm's lab is…to the right._

And so, she set out to the right to (hopefully) find the lab. New Bark seemed to be a small rural town, with houses not too close together or far apart from each other and beautiful greenery bordering the streets and people's yards. It seemed peaceful.

At last, Jade came upon a large building which she presumed to be the lab, and her suspicion was confirmed as she read the small sign mounted next to one of the windows on the far side of the building. She was just about to go inside when she thought she noticed someone else…

Cautiously, she rounded the corner of the building that was bordered with trees on one side, and indeed saw someone. It was a boy, about her age, with shoulder-length red hair that was slightly spiky at the ends, silvery-black eyes, and a hard expression on his face. He wore a black-and-red jacket and jeans tucked into black boots.

"So…this is the famous Elm Pokemon Lab…" the boy muttered to himself.

…_Is that who I think it is?_ Jade thought, surprised.

She walked over to the boy and tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me?" she asked politely, still the Southern lady she had been brought up as.

The boy jerked around to face her, scowling.

"What are you staring at?" he asked her harshly. "Get lost!" With that, he abruptly shoved Jade away from him, sending the surprised girl stumbling back a few feet.

_He did NOT just do that._

"Hey, what was that abou…never mind," Jade's retort faded into a mumble as she turned and walked away. She didn't like arguing—even if it was with a jerk like that guy. And she certainly didn't like being around negative emotions, as she picked up on them a lot easier than others did and therefore was affected more by them.

**(A/N: Wow, I'm turning my character into a human Togetic! J)**

Letting her thoughts of the jerkish boy—who may or not be her future rival—drift into the back of her mind, Jade pushed open the door and went into the lab.

"Uh…Professor Elm? You wanted to see me?" she asked, looking around for the professor.

A tall, thin man with light brown hair and glasses, who had been typing at a laptop computer at a desk when she had entered, now looked up, smiled, and stood. "Ah, Jade, there you are!"

_I'm starting to find it slightly scary how all of these people seem to know me when I have no connection to them whatsoever._

"I had a favor I wanted to ask of you, you see—" Professor Elm started as he and Jade began to walk into the back of the lab.

"Wait, let me guess," Jade cut in. "You're conducting new Pokemon research right now and are writing a paper about it that you want to present at a conference, so you want me to raise a Pokemon that you recently caught so I can help with your research. Am I right?"

The professor blinked, surprised. "Well, yes, but…how did you know I was going to say that?"

Jade shrugged. "Word gets around."

Professor Elm laughed. "So, does that mean you'll do it?"

"Of course I will!" Jade answered without hesitation, already knowing which Pokemon she was going to pick. "I would have asked you for a Pokemon anyway."

"Well, then, it all works out!" the professor said cheerfully. "Thanks, Jade, you're a great help! Come on over here." He led Jade over to a table where two Poke` Balls were. Wait a minute…two? "Go ahead and pick either of these Pokemon here. You'll be that Pokemon's first partner! You can choose between Cyndaquil, the Fire Pokemon, or Totodile, the Water Pokemon."

Jade frowned. Chikorita was the one she had wanted to pick. "What about the Grass-type? I mean, don't you have a Chikorita?"

The professor sighed. "Well, yes, I do, but…you see, right after I caught her, she accidentally touched an Everstone, so she can't evolve. I was planning on releasing her back into the wild soon because nobody wanted her."

Jade felt a slight pang in her chest.

_Oh, that poor little Pokemon…I can see why nobody would want a Chikorita that can't evolve. And yet…_

She felt three simple words forming in her throat, and they escaped from her mouth before she knew what she was saying:

"I want her."

Professor Elm blinked. "You do?"

Jade nodded.

He shrugged. "Well, if you don't mind her not being able to evolve, she's yours."

"Thank you, sir."

The professor went over to another table farther back in the room and picked up a Poke` Ball, then came back over and handed it to Jade. She released the hinge with slightly trembling fingers. She was holding a _real _Poke` Ball! Not a keychain or a Burger King replica, a REAL one!

But that was nothing compared to what emerged from it. A small, pale green Pokemon with short legs, a stumpy tail, a large leaf on its head, and a ring of tiny buds around its neck formed from the beam of red energy that came out of the Poke` Ball and looked up at her with curious red eyes.

"Chikori?" the Chikorita asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Uh, hi there!" Jade greeted the Pokemon a little awkwardly, not knowing how to address it. "I'm Jade."

"Now, you're _sure_ you wouldn't like a different starter?" Professor Elm asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

Jade shook her head. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't trade this cutie for anything in the world!"

"Chik!" Chikorita cried, leaping up into Jade's arms. She laughed.

"Well, she seems to be taking a shine to you already, Jade," the professor observed.

"Thank you again, sir!" Jade thanked him sincerely as Chikorita jumped out of her arms and took up its place beside her on the floor. "I'll treat my Pokemon like she was my own sister!"

Professor Elm smiled, closing his eyes, and nodded. "You words gladden me, Jade. I can tell that you would treat anyone, human or Pokemon, who came into your life as if they were family. That's why I picked you for this undertaking. I don't give Pokemon out to just anyone who wants one, you know. They first have to demonstrate that they care about Pokemon."

Jade pondered the professor's statement for a moment. "Y'know, that's a really good attitude to have about Trainers, Professor. I'm glad you wouldn't give a Pokemon to someone who didn't deserve it."

"As I said before, that's why I picked you! Oh, I almost forgot…" The professor went over to another desk and opened a drawer, took something out, then went back over to Jade and handed it to her. "I just received this from Professor Oak in Kanto; he said he wanted me to give a model to all the rookie Trainers of New Bark."

_Rookie? Ha! I'm hardly a rookie. If only you knew…_

Jade looked at the item in her hand. It was the Generation IV model of the Poke`dex, the pink-and-white version. It had a flip-top design, which when opened would reveal, as Jade knew, a touch-screen interface. _Cool!_ she thought.

"Thank you, sir. It's the newest model of the Poke`dex, right?"

"That's exactly it! You predicted what I was going to say earlier and now you guess exactly what I was going to say now! You're quite the insightful one," he laughed.

_Uh, no, not really, I just know what's going to happen already!_

"Anyway, now that you have a Pokemon, you can either challenge—"

"Gyms or contests?" Jade finished the professor's statement.

"…that's right. Since you had already planned to be a Trainer beforehand, have you given which you'd like to do any thought?"

The truth was, no, she hadn't. In her Pokemon games, Jade had challenged both gyms and contests, but you had to challenge gyms to advance further in the game. The question was: which one would she do if gameplay wasn't an object?

"I'm not sure," Jade said slowly. "Since I'm planning to mainly train Grass and Bug-types, I guess contests would be the better choice, but I think I might do a little of both."

"You're aiming to be a Grass-type Trainer, eh? I'm a fan of the Grass-type myself. It's true they don't have much power in battle—"

"Chikor!" Chikorita cried angrily.

"—but learn use their abilities efficiently and they're a beautiful sight to watch in contests or battles," the professor quickly finished, not wanting to offend Chikorita.

"Chik," Chikorita said, now content, as she sat down and closed her eyes, her head raised high.

"Alright, I'm pretty sure your mother is about to march herself over here and kill both of us for my keeping you so long," Professor Elm smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right!" Jade laughed. "I'd better get going."

"Well then, good luck, Jade! Be sure and keep me updated on how well your Pokemon does!"

Jade didn't return Chikorita to her Poke` Ball, instead minimizing it and setting it into her belt along with her Poke`dex. After bidding the professor goodbye, she exited the lab.

Out of curiosity, and a little out of caution, Jade and Chikorita checked around the corner of the building where Jade had seen the boy. He wasn't there.

* * *

"There!" Jade sighed, plopping her bag, now packed with a few duplicate outfits, toiletries and beauty products, and some Poke` Balls, down on her bed beside Chikorita, who had been dozing peacefully, before sitting down there herself. "I guess I'm packed enough."

"Chikori!" Chikorita replied, yawning a bit.

Jade laughed quietly. "It's funny to think that a few hours ago I was a New Orleans high school student, and now…I'm a rookie Pokemon Coordinator." Everyone else would call her a rookie, so she figured she had better start getting used to it.

"Chikor?" Chikorita asked.

"I guess you can relate," Jade told the Chikorita, scratching her under her chin. "I mean, only a few hours ago, you thought you were never going to have a Trainer, and now here you are with me."

"Chika," Chikorita agreed, nodding.

Jade smiled at her Pokemon. "Come on, let's get going."

Chikorita jumped off the bed and followed Jade down the stairs. Jade's "mom" was waiting for them by the front door. As soon as Jade was within reach, she grabbed her in a suffocating hug.

"Mom," Jade choked out, "I can't breathe."

"Sweetie, be careful!" Mom cried. "Be sure and call me and tell me how you're getting along, okay?"

"If I say yes, will you stop trying to break me in half?" Jade continued in the same choking voice.

"Sorry!" Mom let go. "Oh my goodness, your Chikorita is so adorable!"

"Chikor!" Chikorita cried, obviously delighted by the compliment.

"Mom, I really need to get going now if I want to reach Cherrygrove City by nightfall," Jade said gently.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, I didn't mean to keep you, it's just…"

"I understand, Mom." Jade hugged her, then said, "Come on, Chikorita. Let's get going!"

Jade walked out the door and started towards the road out of New Bark Town towards Cherrygrove City, stopping only once to wave goodbye to her mom. She didn't have a problem with calling the woman that she'd only known for half a day "mom" now. Even if she wasn't her real birth mother, Jade knew that she loved her as much as her real mother had.

As Jade and Kachiri stood at the beginning of the road to Cherrygrove, Jade silently vowed in her mind to give this her best and to be the greatest Grass-type Trainer in the world.

_Wow. I sound like a girl version of Ash._

"Well, it's too late to turn back now," Jade said quietly to herself and Chikorita.

* * *

A bustling Team Rocket warehouse stood hidden a good ways off from Mahogany Town in the shadow of the mountains. From a ledge almost completely hidden by thick foliage, a girl with shoulder-length deep blue hair and turquoise eyes crouched and looked down on the scene. A Riolu and Espeon stood on either side of her.

The girl reached up to the microphone earpiece in her ear, which was hidden by her hair.

"Hileriarai, it's Xandra," she whispered into the comms unit. "Have you seen anything yet?"

"_Negative. Just grunts, grunts, and more grunts," _a voice which apparently belonged to Hileriarai answered.

"Remember, we're looking for the Rocket Executive named Celia. She's the one in charge of Project Beta."

"_You didn't need to remind me, Xandra. When's Lance supposed to get here? No offense, but I could really use some backup right about now, and you can't exactly ditch your position…"_

"I don't know. He said he'd contact me as soon as he left Mount Silver." Xandra had been worried that her partner couldn't handle this mission alone right from the beginning, and now her suspicions were being confirmed even as she spoke.

"_Good, I—wait, I think that's—"_

That was all Xandra heard before the message cut off in a blur of static.

"Hileriarai?"

No answer.

"Hileriarai, do you copy?"

Still no answer.

Xandra pounded her fist against a conveniently nearby rock in a sudden burst of emotion. Her Pokemon jumped. "Darnit, Hileriarai, where are you!?"

Quickly, she whipped out a Poke`gear and found the person she wanted to call on speed dial. It rang a few times—it seemed like forever to Xandra—before someone finally picked up.

"_What's up, Xandra?"_

"Lance Wataru, I don't care where you are or what you are doing, get over here NOW!"

* * *

**HAHAHA! CLIFFHANGER! Wanna know what happens? Then keep reading! (Xandra and Hileriarai are mine and my cousin's secret agent names...SHHH! No one must know.) Love you guys! See you at the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4: iCatch Pokerus

**Hello, everyone! Alex here! This is the third chapter I've uploaded in the past week, so I am extremely proud of myself…and extremely tired from all of the continuous writing. J Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Carly yawned as she sat up in her sleeping bag and stretched.

"You guys awake?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah, I am," Amber replied from where she sat typing on Carly's computer on a beanbag chair.

"Sam"

"Uuuuugh…" Sam groaned, rolling over. "I-have-a-sore-throat-let-me-sleep-turn-up-the-heat-mom." And she resumed snoring.

Carly stifled a giggle. That was Sam for ya.

"Jade?"

Nobody answered.

Carly looked at Jade's sleeping bag to find it empty.

"Hey, Amber, where'd Jade go?" Carly asked as she stood and plopped down onto a beanbag next to Amber's.

"I don't know," Amber shrugged, looking up from the laptop. "She wasn't here when I woke up a few minutes ago. Maybe she's in the shower?"

"I don't hear any water running," Carly said.

"But where else could she have gone?"

PING!

Amber and Carly both looked back at Carly's laptop screen, which now held a dialog box that read:

**You have a webchat request from **_**Cherrygrove City Pokemon Center. **_**Do you accept?**

Amber moved the cursor towards the _Yes_ button.

"Amber, wait," Carly started to protest. "It could be a virus or—" She stopped as she saw whose image popped up on the screen.

"JADE?!" Amber and Carly both cried in unison.

"Huh?" Sam jolted awake. "What'd I miss?"

* * *

"Guys, I know you're surprised to see me," Jade told Carly, Amber, and a newly-awoken-and-bleary-eyed Sam from the videophone at the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center. "But—"

"_Of COURSE we're surprised to see you!"_ Carly yelled at her from the screen. _"You're all…ANIMATED!"_

"_How did—where are—what the—"_ Amber stammered out in a state of shock.

"Before you ask," Jade went on, "I have no clue how I got here—or even how in the world I can be contacting you right now, for that matter—but the point is that I'm in the Pokemon world now, and it looks like I'm stuck here until further notice."

The digital image of Sam rubbed some sleep out of her eyes. _"Hey, why is there a cartoon version of Jade on the computer?" _she yawned. Jade guessed that she still wasn't fully awake.

"_Go back to sleep, Sam," _Carly sighed. _"We'll explain later."_

Sam immediately fell over and vanished from the screen. Jade laughed.

"_So, what are we gonna tell Freddie and Spencer about this?"_ Amber asked, apparently now over her initial surprise.

"Tell them the truth," Jade shrugged. "Spencer needs a vacation, anyway. A few days in the hospital due to shock might be good for him."

Amber giggled in spite of herself, but then quickly turned serious again. _"Okay, but call us whenever you get into a Pokemon Center, alright? Just so we can keep in check."_

"I will," Jade promised.

"_Okay then," _Carly said. _"Uh…have fun, I guess?"_

Jade laughed. "Oh, I intend to fully enjoy every minute of my time here. I'll call you guys when I get to Violet City."

"_Alright, bye."_

"Bye."

Jade placed the phone back on the receiver, and the screen went blank. She sighed. Well, the hardest part was over. Now all she had to do was find some more Pokemon, get to the nearest Contest Hall, and go wild.

* * *

"Hey, Amber," Carly waved Amber back over to the computer. "What's that weird flashing purple icon in the bottom corner of the screen?"

Amber looked to see a tiny purple rectangular box with "PKRUS" written on it in white block letters on Carly's computer screen. She burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Carly demanded.

"Our conversation with Jade—HAHAHA—infected—HAHA—your computer with the—HAHAHAHAHAHA!—Pokerus virus!"

"WHAT?!" Carly shrieked.

"Well—HAHAHA!—look at the—HAHA!—bright side! Your computer's gonna gain EV's more steadily for every level you earn!"

* * *

"Hey, Chikorita," Jade addressed her Pokemon as she crouched down to her level. "How about we go get some training in before we head to Violet?"

"Chikor!" Chikorita agreed enthusiastically.

"Have a good day!" Nurse Joy called out to them, waving goodbye as Jade and Chikorita opened the door to leave the Pokemon Center.

"Thank you, ma'am, you too!" Jade replied as she and Chikorita exited the building and walked outside onto the street of the small city. The duo was about to head to the small park in the center of the city to practice, but then…

RING, RING! RING, RING!

Jade jumped a little, then reached for her Poke`gear and flipped it open. The screen displayed it was Professor Elm who was calling her. She pressed the 'accept call' button.

"Hello, Professor Elm?"

"_H-hello? Jade? I-it's a disaster! Um, um, it's just terrible! What should I do? It…oh no…please get back here now! No time to explain!"_

Click!

He had hung up.

"Oh no…" Jade groaned. "This can only mean one thing…one of the other starter Pokemon was stolen!"

"Chikori?!" Chikorita cried in surprise.

"I know!" Jade threw her hands up in the air. "I have a pretty good idea of who did it, too! Let's get back to New Bark."

"Chikor!"

They turned in the opposite direction and started to run back towards the road to New Bark Town. But just as they reached it…

Jade and Chikorita watched as the red-haired boy from the lab walked towards them from the route they had been planning to take.

Chikorita jumped in front of Jade protectively and growled.

"Chikorita, it's alright," Jade assured her. Chikorita backed down a little, but kept her position in front of Jade, glaring at the boy.

The boy glared at Jade with his black eyes. "You got a Pokemon at the lab, huh?" His gaze flashed down towards Chikorita for a moment, then he looked back up at Jade and scoffed, "What a waste. A wimp like you."

Jade had already heard this before in her HeartGold game, but it was different hearing it said directly to her in real life. She didn't reply.

"Don't you get what I'm saying?" the boy went on. "Well, I too have a good Pokemon. I'll show you what I mean!" He began to reach for a Poke` Ball.

Jade smirked to herself; she was about to do what she had wanted to do ever since she started playing Pokemon.

"No," she told him. "I refuse to battle you with a Pokemon you _stole_."

The boy grunted. "Hmph. You're only refusing because you know you'll lose. You're just a coward!"

The insult hit Jade in the chest like a ton of bricks.

"CHIKOR!" Chikorita practically shouted at the boy, crouching down into a battle stance and daring him to continue affronting her mistress.

"Chikorita!" Jade admonished. "Stop it! It's okay, really." Even though she could tell it wasn't, Chikorita took a few unwilling steps back.

"So you admit that you stole the Cyndaquil that you now have with you?" Jade asked.

The boy blinked. "How did you know it was a Cyndaquil?"

"You don't need to know!"

"And _you_ don't need to know how I acquired this Pokemon. Even if I _had_ stolen it, what could you do about it, as weak as you are?"

_Please. Stop. TALKING._

"Hey!" another new voice cut in.

Jade, Silver, and Chikorita turned to see another girl walking towards them. She had long, pin-straight black hair streaked with purple, fair skin, and dark brown eyes bordered by black eyeliner, and she was wearing a grey, white, and black plaid pleated miniskirt, fishnet tights, a silky purple tank top, a cropped leather jacket, and chunky black ankle boots. Accessorizing the punky ensemble were black fingerless wrist-length gloves, a chunky black bracelet, a silver ring on her pointer finger, and a silver key necklace. She was tossing an Ultra Ball up and down in her gloved hand, and a Togepi trotted along by her feet.

"I think the girl said she wanted you to leave her alone," the newcomer informed the boy, taking up her place beside Jade.

"Oh?" the boy shot back. "And what'll happen if I don't?"

The girl shrugged, said, "You asked," and then threw the Ultra Ball up into the air. It popped open, the red energy coming from within it forming into the massive shape of an Onix.

"_That_ will happen," she said smugly, folding her arms across her chest as the Rock Snake Pokemon roared, causing a few of the people minding their own business nearby to duck behind houses for cover. The girl's Togepi jumped up into her Trainer's arms, cowering in fear.

The red-haired boy glowered at both Jade and the newcomer, but then planted his stare solely on Jade. "I'm going to be the world's greatest Trainer. Don't you forget it, _Jade_." He walked up to Jade, shoved her out of his way, and began to walk back into Cherrygrove City.

"Have a nice life, _Silver!_" Jade yelled after him.

"ChiKOR!" Chikorita put her oar in.

"If I _ever_ see you again, punk, I'll _personally_ do very painful things to you!" the mystery girl concluded.

Once Silver had vanished into the city, Jade and the girl turned to each other. The girl had put Togepi down, and it had enticed Chikorita to play tag with it.

"Thank you," Jade said sincerely as she bowed her head a little. "I really owe you one."

"Eh, it was nothing," the girl shrugged as she recalled her Onix. "I actually knew the guy back in Viridian City in Kanto—I'm from there. He's always been like that, only to a much less extreme degree than what you just saw. Anyway, I'm Conner. And yourself?"

"I'm Jade. Nice to meet you!"

"Chikor!" Chikorita spoke up, then went back to playing with Conner's Togepi.

Noticing the starter, Conner asked, "Oh, you're a rookie, eh?"

"That's right." It still felt weird to Jade to call herself a rookie, so she added, "I'm a rookie in the sense that I just got my first Pokemon, but I've had a lot of experience handling Pokemon already. But yes, I'm just starting out on my journey. Judging by your Onix, I'm guessing you haven't been a rookie for a few years!"

Conner laughed. "You've got that right! I started out with my Charmander four years ago when I was twelve. It's a Charizard now. And I also have a Squirtle and Weezing besides Onix, Charizard, and Togepi—she's the baby of the Team."

"Right now, all I have is my Chikorita," Jade said. "But I'm hoping to catch more Grass-types as I travel."

"Oooh, a Grass-type Trainer, huh? You're brave, girl," Conner said admiringly.

"Maybe in that area, but not in anything else," Jade sighed.

* * *

"Professor Elm?" Jade called as she and Conner entered the lab. The black-haired girl had tagged along, as she could provide extra background info on Silver if the investigative officers needed it. Chikorita and Togepi had gone back into their Poke` Balls for an afternoon nap.

"Jade? Is that you?"

The professor and a police officer both came out into the main room of the lab where Jade and Conner had entered.

Just as the police officer opened his mouth to talk, Jade said, "A Cyndaquil was stolen here? I saw the Trainer—if you can call him a Trainer—who did it. Long red hair, black eyes, right? His name's Silver."

The officer blinked. "That's exactly right. Do you have any further information on him?"

While Conner shared everything she knew about Silver with the police officer—where he was from, his age, and all that good junk—Jade pulled Professor Elm, who was still quite distraught, aside.

"Like I said," Jade told him gently, "I know who stole Cyndaquil. I doubt I'll be able to get it back—in fact, I know I won't be able to—but I promise that I'll do everything I can to…bring about a change of heart in Silver, I guess."

_I doubt I'll even be able to do that! It was easy in the game; I didn't even have to _say _anything! Maybe Silver was right when he said that I was weak…_

_A coward…_

* * *

"…okay, and mine is 953-7216."

After Jade finished programming Conner's number into her Poke`gear, they both switched back. It was a glaring contrast seeing Jade's updated pink-and-white model against Conner's grey older version that looked more like a high-tech digital watch face than a cell phone.

Conner sighed. "Girl, you are so lucky you got the latest Poke`gear model. I've been carrying around this dinosaur for years. Still, it _does_ have a touch-screen full keyboard and unlimited texting, and that's _all_ I need! She clipped her Poke`gear back onto her belt loop as Jade reattached hers to her bag strap.

"So, you've gotta head back to Viridian?" Jade asked as she and Conner headed back down the road to Cherrygrove yet again.

"Yep," Conner nodded. "I work at a Pokemon day care center with my parents—it's a miracle that I managed to convince them to let me take a vacation—not to mention I have to babysit my siblings Harrison and Serena." She rolled her eyes. "It's such a pain in the butt."

Jade said, "I _would_ say I know how you feel, but I don't really, which is weird for me, being the empath I am. I'm an only child."

"And you should be grateful for that." Conner pulled a Poke` Ball from her belt. "Well, I'd better get flying. Call me, okay?"

"Alright!"

"Go…Charizard!" Conner cried as she threw the Poke` Ball…and a Weezing popped out!

"AGH! No, Weezing, I didn't want—"

POOF.

* * *

After the little Self-Destruct-and-Poison-Gas had been _pleasantly_ settled due to the help of a Gust attack from Charizard, Conner took off back towards Kanto on Charizard, but not before the two girls made a promise to stay in touch.

Jade turned and looked at the setting sun over the trees.

_Well, I'm on the road to Violet City…oh, darn. I'm going to have that song stuck in my head all night now._

* * *

**Notice: Second-hand Weezing smoke is a proven health hazard. If any one of you has been exposed to this, please visit your doctor immediately. And if you have avoided second-hand Weezing smoke, then congratulations, you will live a long and healthy life. To those of you who have been exposed, you will die tomorrow, so it sucks to be you. This notice has been brought to you by the National Crappers Association of Australia and the National Crackdealers of Africa (NCAA).**

**The character Conner is dedicated to my best friend xladyjagsvolleyball16x!  
**


	5. Chapter 5: iThrow Canadian Ham

**Why, hello again, ole chaps! I hope you are ready for Chapter 5, because I indubitably am! Cheerio! (Don't ask, I just felt like being British today.)**

* * *

"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU, LANCE!" Xandra yelled at the spiky-haired Dragon Master, clenching her fists and trembling with rage. They were both at the Pokemon G-Men Headquarters, which was hidden in the mountains near Tohjo Falls, and the blue-haired scout was _not_ in a good mood. Now out of her usual black espionage attire, she was clad in a pair of faded jean capris and a three-quarter-sleeved pale yellow hoodie. Two Great Balls, a Premier Ball, and an unused Master Ball were set in her belt.

"It's pure luck that Hileriarai escaped from that Rocket Warehouse _without_ blowing _both_ of our covers!" she continued angrily. "You _knew_ I couldn't leave my scouting position to go help her! And yet you just _had_ to take on a field challenger when you were _supposed_ to be helping us with our mission! You'd better be glad that her comms unit hitting a dead zone was the only reason we lost contact, because if _anything_ had happened to her, you'd be—"

"Dead meat, I know," Lance sighed, rubbing his temples as he looked down at the floor. "I'll say it again, Xandra: I'm sorry. That was extremely foolish of me and I should have put my priorities in order before I accepted that challenge. But what matters now is that both you and Hileriarai are here and unharmed."

"He's right, you know," a voice spoke up. Xandra and Lance both turned to see Hileriarai enter the room. Her long, curly blonde hair was pulled into a low ponytail, and she wore a pair of black skinny jeans and a bright blue v-neck tank top that made her ice-blue eyes stand out. Her belt held a Premier Ball and two Safari Balls.

"Xandra, do I _always_ have to be the one to keep your temper in check?" Hileriarai teased as she sat on the edge of a nearby chair. "Me being your cousin _and _the younger out of us, it's kind of sad, actually. I don't want Lance getting hurt on my account when nothing even happened to me!"

Xandra got red in the face, but she said nothing, instead following Hileriarai's example and plopping back down into her chair huffily, her arms crossed.

"So, now that we're all here," Lance announced, standing up, "I'd like you to tell us exactly what you found at the Mahogany Town Team Rocket Base, Hileriarai."

Hileriarai sighed. "As you already know, the Rockets are calling their newest operation 'Project Beta', so it's safe to assume that they've already tried something of this kind before, judging solely by its name. I managed to hack into one of the computers to get more information, but what I could find was all jumbled up. But here's what I managed to decipher…"

Xandra and Lance both leaned forward a little, listening intently.

"I found a picture of a weird Poke` Ball," Hileriarai went on. "It was gold on the top half, silver on the bottom half. Along with it was a satellite photo of a forest—it wasn't labeled, but it was probably either Ilex Forest or Viridian Forest, I couldn't tell. And then I found a picture of a stone tablet—it looked like it had been part of a ruin—that was inscribed with this:

'_When the doubters find trust_

_The strong learn to be weak_

_The callous find empathy_

_And courage the fearful seek_

_The Sun and Moon meet_

_As the Clear Bell tolls_

_The Guardian of the Sky appears once more_

_As Water, Fire, and Lightning as one roll.'"_

All three were silent for a moment.

"Well, what's that supposed to mean?!" Xandra burst out.

"If I knew, don't you think I'd tell you?" Hileriarai sighed, shaking her head.

"Well," Lance said, "I think it's best if we just lay low and keep trying to find more information. Until we find out what Team Rocket's up to, that's really all we _can_ do. We'll figure something out sooner or later."

"I just hope we manage sooner," Xandra groaned.

* * *

"Okay, lemme get this straight," Freddie started as he, Carly, Sam, and Amber made their way up the stairs to the iCarly studio. "Jade has somehow been sucked into the Pokemon world and can't get back here?"

"Yeah!" Amber confirmed. "And she called us from an actual Pokemon _Center_!"

"And infected my computer with some weird virus!" Carly concluded.

"Pokerus?" Freddie asked.

"Yep," Amber nodded.

"Thought so."

(A/N: If you're wondering how Spencer reacted, he didn't find out. He had apparently gone to Canada on his motorcycle that morning to get more fancy ham, so Carly and company couldn't tell him about Jade's situation. But don't worry, he'll be back! J)

"But," Freddie continued, "even though it's obvious Jade's not here, how do I know she's not just hiding somewhere and this is just some huge practical joke?"

"Why is it that _every time_," Sam cried, "we try to tell you something that really happened, you think it's a prank?!" They reached the top of the stairs and went into the studio.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time!" Freddie countered. "Remember the whole Melanie thing?"

"That was real, too!" Carly protested. "It really was Melanie, not Sam!"

"Like I said before, I'm still fuzzy on that!" Freddie cried. "The point is, I'm gonna need solid proof before I buy this one."

Amber sighed. "Fine then. You'll get proof soon. Jade said she'd call when she got into Violet City."

"Oh, so she's in Johto, huh?" Freddie asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Hello again, children!" Spencer cried as he flung open the door to the studio. "I have returned from Canada, WITH HAM! Have I missed anything of interest in the duration of my absence?"

Carly, Sam, and Amber exchanged nervous glances.

"Well…"

PING!

"That's gotta be Jade!" Sam exclaimed, running over to Carly's laptop, which had been charging on Freddie's tech cart.

"Yeah, I'm so sure," Freddie scoffed.

"Well, then," Sam said smugly, "if you're so sure, then why does the screen say 'You have a webchat request from the Violet City Nerd Cave'?"

"POKEMON CENTER!" Amber angrily corrected her.

"Whatever!"

"Would someone kindly explain to me what is going on here?" Spencer asked, just standing there with his stupid ham.

"Let me see that," Freddie demanded, turning the laptop in his direction. After reading the message, he said, "That could be _anything_—spam or a virus or—"

"Or Jade!" Carly declared as she clicked the mouse.

"_Hey, guys! I'm assuming you told Freddie?" _the image of Jade on the screen asked.

"_Chikor!" _the image of Chikorita beside the image of Jade put in.

"WHOA!" Freddie reeled back a couple of steps in surprise.

The on-screen Jade sighed. _"Or you told him and he didn't believe you. I figured as much after the Melanie incident."_

"You were in on that, too?!" Freddie cried.

"_In on what? It was really Melanie!"_

"Okay, why is there a cartoon version of Jade on the screen?" Spencer asked as he joined the four teens at the computer.

"That's exactly what I said when I found out! Although I was in a state of delirium, so it didn't really count," Sam observed.

"So did you make it to Violet City?" Amber asked.

"_Yeah, I did! Chikorita and I even managed to catch a Hoppip and Oddish on the way! Come on out, guys!" _Jade pulled out two Poke` Balls and opened them, releasing a Pokemon that looked like a walking blue plant bulb with beady red eyes and five green leaves sprouting from its head, and a little stumpy-armed pink Pokemon with long dandelion leaf-like sprouts coming from its head and tiny yellow eyes.

"Aw!" Carly cried. "They're so cute! Well, for little plant things, anyway."

"Okay," Freddie said slowly. "So, Jade, you're really there and this isn't just some weird computer trick."

"_Freddie, why would we joke about something like this?" _Jade asked as she returned Hoppip and Oddish.

"Has everyone forgotten that I'm in the room?!" Spencer cried as he threw his hands up into the air, accidentally chucking his Canadian ham at the ceiling. It stayed there. "Aw, come on! How did that happen?!"

"Then in that case…that is so cool!" Freddie exclaimed. "I mean, it's not cool that you can't get back, but…dang! You don't know _what_ I'd give to be in your shoes right now!"

"I don't think you _could _be in her shoes, Freddie," Carly said. "She's, like, a size 6, I think, and you're a 12. It'd be kind of painful."

"_Hehe, good one, cuz!"_

"So, when are you going to take on Falkner, if you're in Violet City?" Freddie asked eagerly.

"_Are you kidding?"_ Jade admonished. _"If I tried to beat Falkner, my Pokemon would probably never forgive me! They have the disadvantage of type _and_ level. No way, I'm not ready to take on gyms yet. I'm entering contests right now. Maybe I'll do gym battles later, but not now."_

"OW!"

Everyone turned to see Spencer holding his head with one hand and his Canadian ham in the other.

"My ham fell on me," he said sadly.

"_Maybe it just doesn't like you," _Jade suggested.

"_Chikori," _Chikorita added.

* * *

"Phew!" Jade sighed as she sank into the grass of Violet City's only park, and a small one at that, holding Hoppip against her chest so she wouldn't float away again. "Never knew that one measely hour of contest training could be so much work!"

Jade's first training session with Chikorita, Hoppip, and Oddish hadn't gone quite like she had planned. Only about 30 minutes of that hour was spent on actual practice. The other half was spent breaking up a fight between Chikorita and a Trainer named Josh's Larvitar, chasing after Hoppip, who had been blown away by a sudden gust of wind, and getting Oddish out of an incident involving honey buns, a swarm of Combee, and two hungry Granbull. Naturally, after all that, Jade _and_ her Pokemon were completely wiped.

"How in the world did I get stuck with you problem children?" Jade laughed.

"Chikor?!"

"Hop?!"

"Oddish?!"

Her Pokemon didn't seem too happy about being called "problem children."

Jade laughed again. "Can't you three take a joke? I was just kidding!"

"Oddish!" Oddish cried, jumping up and making itself at home on Jade's lap. The tiny Weed Pokemon had been like that ever since Jade caught it yesterday, always looking for affection from its Trainer. Not wanting to be left out, Chikorita flung herself over Jade's shoulder.

"Hey! How much room do you think I have?" Jade asked, as all three of her Pokemon were now attached to her in some way.

"Chikori!"

"Hoppip!"

"Oddish!"

"I guess that means you don't plan to move on your own anytime soon," the orange-headed Trainer sighed. She pulled out two Poke` Balls. "Hoppip, Oddish, return." The two Grass Pokemon returned to their Balls in a stream of red energy.

"Come on, let's get back to the Pokemon Center," Jade said as she and Chikorita stood up. "You three could use a rest."

They hadn't gotten far when Jade heard a strange whooshing sound behind her, like something whizzing through the air. Curious, she turned around and—

"ACK!" Jade cried as something hit her and Chikorita with a bang and dashed them both back against the ground.

"Ow," she groaned as she sat up, rubbing her head. Chikorita stood and shook a little to get the dirt off of herself.

"Oh—I am SO sorry! Pidgeot and I weren't watching where we were going."

"It's alright, we're fine—" Jade's sentence was cut off as she looked up at whoever had crashed into her to see a large Pidgeot, probably a little taller than herself, and a boy a little older than her—eighteen, maybe?—who apparently was its Trainer. He had shaggy blue hair that fell over his right eye and was wearing a traditional Japanese-type outfit with black-and-red wristbands.

…_Falkner?!_

* * *

…**and so it begins. And to my friend WaddleDeeAnarchy, the character you requested made a cameo, if you didn't notice! Don't worry, he'll be back! :-) Remember, kids, what doesn't kill you makes you easier to catch in a Poke` Ball! Read and review! OR DIE!**

**...**

**Yeah.**


	6. Chapter 6: iEncounter a Gym Leader

**Hola, mi amigos! Enjoy chapter six, suggestions on "the encounter" given to me by xladyjagsvolleyball16x! So…just read it!**

* * *

There was no doubt about it. Falkner and his Pidgeot were the ones who had nearly knocked the wind out of Jade.

The blue-haired teenager held out a hand, which Jade gratefully took, and helped her stand up.

"Are you alright?" Falkner asked, a hint of concern underlying his tone.

Jade nodded. "I'm fine, thank you. Chikorita, you okay?"

"Chikor!" Chikorita confirmed.

"We _both_ are," she corrected herself.

"Again, I'm sorry. I told Pidgeot to use Aerial Ace on the Caterpie, and apparently she thought I said the Chikorita." The Gym Leader looked at his Pokemon a bit accusingly.

"Pidgooo," Pidgeot chirped a little sheepishly.

"Hey, cheer up, Pidgeot," Jade told the Bird Pokemon encouragingly. "It's a mistake anyone could make."

"I haven't seen you around here before," Falkner observed. "Are you from New Bark?"

"Actually, I'm from New Or—I mean, yeah, I'm from New Bark!" Phew. She had almost said New Orleans. "My name's Jade. Jade Villerubia. And yours?" She already knew, but pretended not to; she was considered a rookie here, so she figured she had better be prepared to learn _everything_ all over again.

"I'm Falkner Hayato, the Violet City Gym Leader," he introduced himself somewhat proudly.

"Oh?" Jade tried to sound surprised. "You're the Gym Leader? Wow, I didn't realize I was talking to a celebrity!"

Falkner laughed. "Well, I don't know about that part."

"Hoohoo!"

"Hm?" Jade turned her head only to come face to face with a Hoothoot. She jumped a bit. "Whoa! Where'd you come from? She turned back towards Falkner. "Is this your Hoothoot?"

"Yeah," Falkner said. "Sorry, it can get a bit wary of other Trainers sometimes."

The Hoothoot circled Jade's head a few times, looking at her intently. Jade stared back. The two kept this up for about five more seconds until Hoothoot pecked Jade on the forehead three times.

"Um, _ow!_" Jade cried as Hoothoot flew back over to Falkner's shoulder.

"Hoohoo," Hoothoot said contentedly.

"Hoothoot said it likes you," Falkner smiled.

"Well, I'm honored," Jade said, rubbing her forehead. "But did it really have to peck me to figure that out?"

"Chikori!" Chikorita put in, trotting over to Falkner. She walked around him in a circle, looking him up and down intently, then sniffed him. When she had finished her inspection, she went back over to Jade.

"Chikor," she said bluntly.

"She says you're okay," Jade sighed. "But she has a tendency to be a bit _overprotective_ sometimes." She made sure Chikorita heard the next-to-last word. Chikorita just held up her head haughtily, as if to say, "Well, you know my advice and it's the right advice."

"She's also a big sass," Jade smirked, crossing her arms.

"Chikor?!" Chikorita cried angrily.

Falkner laughed at Chikorita's expense. "I see what you mean."

Jade picked Chikorita up to calm her down. Smiling, she said, "It was great meeting you, Falkner, but I'd better get going."

"Where're you headed?"

"The Pokemon Center, why?"

"I'll walk back with you if you want. It's getting dark, girls shouldn't be walking around alone this time of day."

"Oh, and a girl walking around with a teenage guy she barely knows is safer than being alone?" Jade teased.

Falkner scowled as he returned his Pidgeot. "Hey, I have _some_ dignity." Jade could tell he wasn't really angry.

"I was just kidding! But on a more serious note, I guess you'd have to, you being the Gym Leader here and all."

"Hm." Falkner and Jade made their way back to the main drag of the city. "I guess so. I never really wanted the position anyway. My dad left me the gym after he died."

Jade gasped softly. She had known that Falkner had inherited his gym from his father, but had never guessed that his father had _died._"

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Jade told him quietly.

Falkner shrugged. "It's alright."

"No, really, I can relate. _Both_ of my parents died."

"What?" The Flying-type Trainer seemed surprised. "How?"

"In a fire about a year ago."

"Do you have any other family?"

"I have my cousins Carly and Spencer, and an, uh, adoptive mother—" (she was referring to her Pokemon-world mom) "—but other than that, no."

"Whoa," Falkner said quietly. "And I thought it was bad to lose one parent. Losing two would be unbearable to me. My mom lives in Goldenrod City now, but at least she's alive."

Jade was getting all droopy just talking to someone about this. "Sorry if you were venting, Falkner, but can we talk about something else? I'm probably going to go into chronic depression for a year or three if I keep absorbing negative energy like this."

It turns out Jade had just provided the perfect conversation starter, as Falkner wanted to know what she meant by "absorbing negative energy." After Jade explained her empathic side, the conversation soon turned to Pokemon Training and Contest tactics, and soon the two were chatting away like they had known each other for years. Well, at least they were until—

"Jade? Hey, Jade!"

Jade and Falkner—not to mention Hoothoot and Chikorita—all turned to see a Charizard swooping out of the sky towards them, and atop its back sat Conner, her black-and-purple hair splayed in random directions from the wind.

"Hey, Conner!" Jade greeted her friend as she landed, though Jade kept a safe five-step distance from Charizard. Fire-types made her a bit nervous. "What are you doing here? I thought you had to go back to Viridian City."

"That I did," Conner replied. "Oh, hey, Falkner."

"Hey yourself," Falkner returned the greeting.

"You know Conner?" Jade asked.

"Nope, not at all," Falkner shook his head.

"But anyway," Conner went on, "I figured before I left I might as well visit a friend while clubbing—if you, uh, catch my drift—but as I was leaving on Charizard, I noticed what looked like the aftermath of some…encounter, I guess, in the hilly field right outside the city. It was _bad_, dude. I mean, there was dead grass, burnt holes in the earth, trees split right down the middle, a giant boulder reduced to little pebbles, birds cooked to perfection, and a Port-a-Potty mysteriously left untouched…I guess whoever did it had to go. _Anyway_, I was gonna ask Falkner to help me investigate, but since you're here, Jade, you get to come too! Lucky you."

"Okay, did you notice anyone suspicious hanging around?" Falkner asked immediately.

"Well, I did see these two girls who got there just after I did—they didn't see me."

"Let's go check it out," Falkner said. "You coming, Jade?"

"Of course I am!"

"YEAH, BUDDY!" Conner cried. "Ride on Pidgeot, Falkner, it'll be faster." Falkner released his Pidgeot as Conner asked Jade, "You riding with me or Falkner?"

Jade pondered it for a moment. "Given the choice of Flying Pokemon, I'd prefer the one that doesn't have a flaming tail."

* * *

After about two minutes of flying, Jade, Falkner, Pidgeot, Conner, and Charizard arrived at the field outside the city. It was a mess, just like Conner had said: scorched grass, burnt holes in the ground, split trees, a boulder in pebbles, and a Port-a-Potty that had mysteriously been left untouched. (A/N: If you're wondering what happened to the birds cooked to perfection, Charizard got hungry before he and Conner went back to find Falkner and Jade. Not to mention I don't want to psychologically damage Falkner in any way.)

"This is awful," Jade whispered as she and Falkner landed on the edge of the destruction and Falkner returned Pidgeot.

"That's exactly what I said when I saw it," Conner put in as she landed next to them, keeping her seat on Charizard.

"I agree with you guys," Falkner said, "but the important thing now is to figure out how this happened and who's responsible—"

"And _there_ are our culprits!" Conner cried. Dramatic pause. Dramatic point. Dramatic flip of the head. "OVER THERE!"

Falkner sighed, releasing Pidgeot again. "Sorry if you needed a break, Pidgeot."

"Pidgoo," Pidgeot chirped, as if to say it was okay.

Jade and Falkner hopped onto Pidgeot again and followed Conner on Charizard, and they reached the other side of the field where the mysterious figures Conner had pointed out were in about five seconds, and then they landed.

Now that they were up close to the strangers, Jade could see that they were two girls—one with long, curly blonde hair and the other with shoulder-length deep blue hair. The blonde wore black jeans and a blue tank top, while the other wore faded denim capris and a pale yellow hoodie.

"Hello," the blonde greeted Jade, Conner, and Falkner kindly with a smile.

"Hey," Conner returned the greeting more suspiciously as she, Jade, and Falkner dismounted their Flying-types.

Jade wasn't sure that the two girls had done this. They didn't seem like the type.

"We're looking for whoever wrecked this field," Jade told the girls. "Do you know who did it?"

The blue-haired girl sighed. "That's what we're trying to figure out, too. I'm Xandra, by the way, and this is my cousin Hileriarai. I know you're Falkner—" Xandra looked at the Gym Leader, "—but who are you two?"

"I'm Conner," Conner told her, "and she's my friend Jade."

"Nice to meet you," Jade told Xandra and Hileriarai, smiling.

"So, do you two have any leads on who caused this mess?" Falkner asked.

"We do," Hileriarai said. "And we're almost one-hundred percent sure we're right."

"Team Rocket," Xandra said. "But as there was nothing of value here to begin with, we can only assume that they trashed the countryside to distract us from something else. Either that or they were bored."

"True," Conner mused thoughtfully. "That would be the only other motive they would have had. I wouldn't be surprised if it _was_ Team Rocket, jerkish, thieving, Pokemon-stealing b—"

"We get the idea, Conner," Jade interrupted her quickly before she started cussing anyone out. "They're extremely dangerous and really, really mean."

"That pretty much sums it up," Falkner said, nodding.

"But whoever did it," Hileriarai started, "they're long gone now. You three can leave all the investigating to us."

* * *

"That certainly was strange," Jade commented as she and Falkner stopped in front of the Pokemon Center.

"It was," Falkner agreed. "But I'm sure Xandra and Hileriarai will figure it out. So, how long are you staying in Violet City?"

"At least until the Pokemon Contest is over, maybe a little longer."

"Are you here to watch the contest? Or are you competing?"

"Oh, I'm competing."

"Really? You strike me as more of a battling type."

"Well, I've done a lot of battling befo—I mean, I _wanted_ to do battles before I decided to be a Coordinator at the last minute. I'm probably going to do battles along with contests once my Pokemon get some more experience. Oh, uh, look at the time, I'd better get my Pokemon to Nurse Joy, see you later!"

With that, Jade retreated into the Pokemon Center faster than Falkner's eyes could follow.

_Something strange about that conversation…_he thought.

* * *

_That was a close one!_ Jade thought as she slid down the wall onto the floor with a long sigh. _Never thought I'd slip up like that twice in one day. What if I had really said I was from New Orleans or that I—a rookie—had already done a lot of battling? He wouldn't even know where New Orleans was! Can you say awkward?_

At last, she stood, gave Oddish and Hoppip's Poke` Balls to Nurse Joy (Chikorita, being the stubborn little sass she was, refused to leave Jade's side), then retired to her Pokemon Center room for the night.

_Well, I'm glad that's over. Besides, I've got bigger things to worry about._

_Like my first contest tomorrow…_

* * *

**Bueno, mi amigos, tengo que irme! Oh, and take the poll on my profile to vote on which members of the iCarly cast get brought into the Pokemon world along with Jade! Sorry, I don't know how to say that in Spanish, so I'll just say it in Pikachu. Egh-hem…Pika, pi pi, pikachu pika pika, pi-pika pikachu, pika pika pika-chu!**

**Hasta la vista, baby!!!**


	7. Chapter 7: iHave Technical Difficulties

**RAWR! That's hello in dinosaur :) Anyhoo, here's part seven! Hope you guys enjoy!**

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* * *

**

"Whaddya mean we've got a huge hole in our iCarly airtime?!" Carly shrieked.

"I mean," Freddie said calmly, "That we can't do another segment of iChoose You without Jade, and we've got about a fifteen-minute time slot to fill without it, and since the show's forty-five minutes long, that's a pretty big gap full of _nothing_."

"Well, don't you guys have a backup sketch you could do or something?" Amber asked. "I can't exactly dress up like a Pikachu and have a battle with a drunk Butterfree when the Butterfree's in another dimension!"

(Jade and Amber had been planning a live-action Pokemon battle for the month-long iChoose You segment of iCarly, but it didn't look like that was going to happen the way things were going.)

"No, we didn't have a backup planned," Sam said. "But we didn't exactly plan Jade's 'situation' either!"

"Well then, why don't one of you guys see if you can fit into Jade's costume…?" Amber asked a little slyly.

The iCarly team exchanged glances for a moment, then turned back to Amber. "NO!"

"You're not stuffing me into that thing for _any_ amount of money," Sam insisted.

"Purple isn't my color," Carly continued.

"And I'm gonna be working the special effects," Freddie concluded.

Amber grunted. "Fine then, be that way…what about Spencer?"

"Not here," Sam sighed. "He want camping with his wacko friends Socko and Tyler for the weekend."

"Drat."

"So…" Carly trailed off… "WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO FOR THE LAST PART OF THE SHOW?!"

"Geez, Carly, calm down!" Freddie told her.

"NEVER tell a girl to calm down!"

"Chill out, then!" Sam pulled off a very smooth synonym transition. (A/N: IDK, couldn't think of anything else to say. Hehehe.) "We'll figure something out before the show tonight."

"Or at least we'd better," Amber muttered. "To think we could avoid this if one of you were brave enough to wear a Butterf—"

"NO, Amber."

* * *

"I'd like to apply for a Contest Pass and register for today's contest, please," Jade told the woman standing behind the reception counter at the Violet City Contest Hall.

The woman nodded. "Alright, just place your Poke`dex in that slot to let the computer download your identification information."

Jade did as she asked, and then waited for the computer to finish processing her info. A few seconds later, her Poke`dex and an I.D. card popped back out of the two automated slots in the counter.

"There you are!" the woman smiled. "That will allow you to compete in every contest all over the Johto region. Here's your ribbon case, ball capsule, and seal case. And you've automatically been registered for today's contest; it starts at four o'clock sharp!"

"Thank you, ma'am," Jade thanked the woman, then placed the ball capsules and seal case in her bag.

"You're very welcome! And good luck!"

Jade and Chikorita got out of the way of the small line (three people) behind them, then Jade propped her elbows up onto the counter with a sigh and took in her surroundings. A few desks down, a girl with a purple ponytail was registering to take part in the contest. A few children stood gazing at a flatscreen TV in the corner, where a video of the previous contest was being played. Several coordinators were scattered around lobby of the contest hall, talking or tending to their Pokemon. A blonde teenage boy with a Roselia especially caught her eye…not the boy (although he was kind of cute), the Roselia. Jade had won many a Super Contest in Platinum with her Roselia by her side. She smiled slightly at the memory from her (virtual) Sinnoh days.

"So, we've got ourselves a rookie Coordinator here, huh?"

Jade turned to see the same purple-haired girl who had been registering for the contest moments ago. Jade now noticed that she had an almost anorexic hourglass figure accentuated by a pair of fitted grey biker shorts and a tight long-sleeved red-and-white jacket. A Beautifly hovered behind her. Overall, she reminded Jade of the Cooltrainer class from FireRed and LeafGreen.

"But hey, don't feel bad," the girl continued without even waiting for Jade's answer. "We were _all_ rookies at some point, I suppose. Who are you, anyway? I know absolutely everybody who's anybody and I've never seen you before."

"My name's Jade," Jade replied, somewhat taken aback by the girl's near rudeness. "And pardon me for saying so, but it's common courtesy to tell someone _your_ name before asking theirs."

"In that case, I'm Raquel." Raquel now looked down and noticed Chikorita, who had been standing loyally by Jade's side throughout the whole interlude. A look of obvious disdain crossed her face. "Don't tell me you're entering the contest with _that_."

"Chikor?!" Chikorita cried, hurt.

"_That_," Jade countered, "happens to be my Chikorita. And yes, I _was_ planning on entering the contest with her."

Raquel shrugged. "Suit yourself. But don't expect to get to the second round if all your Pokemon look as poorly trained as that Chikorita." She turned her back to Jade, her ponytail whipping around her face, then falling back into place. "So sorry, but I've gotta run. Hope to see you at the contest."

Then Raquel walked away, her Beautifly following her, and leaving Jade nearly seething with rage.

_AGH! I think Falkner and Conner are the only _nice_ people I've met here! That prissy Cooltrainer and Silver should _totally _hook up. They'd be soulmates for sure!_

_Wait. Who am I to judge them? I don't know a thing about them. I don't know their backstories. I don't know the reasons for why they're the way they are. What they think about me is none of my business._

_Ugh. Too many conflicting emotions. Being stubborn _and_ an empath is an awful combination._

Heaving a deep sigh, Jade said, "Come on, Chikorita, we have to go back to the Pokemon Center to pick up Oddish and Hoppip."

"Chikori!"

* * *

"Uh, Conner?" Jade asked as she turned around, examining herself thoroughly in the full-body mirror mounted on the wall in the Pokemon Center ladies' room.

"Yeah?" Conner replied with an amused smile.

"Tell me again _why_ I'm wearing this?"

Somehow, Conner had managed to convince Jade to go shopping with her, since Jade still had some hours before the contest. While Jade hadn't found anything she liked, Conner apparently _had_, and now here they were.

"Because," Conner stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Johto contests are like Sinnoh contests in that you have to dress up! And friends don't let friends embarrass themselves by competing in Pokemon Contests in a tank top and sneakers."

"But isn't this a bit…risqué?"

"Are you kidding? It's cute! Well, it's cute on you, anyway. You couldn't pay me enough to wear it in public."

"Chikor!" Chikorita seemed to agree with Conner.

The outfit in question that Jade was currently wearing, which she called risqué and Conner called cute, was a miniskirt made of many overlapping layers of ultra-thin white fabric, a rose pink short-sleeved off-the-shoulder top that clung to Jade's curves, white strappy sandals with slight heels, and a pink choker.

"Well, can we at least take back the skirt and get one that's a more appropriate length?" Jade practically begged. "I feel so _exposed!_"

"Nope! I _refuse_ to take something back that you look good in!"

Jade sighed. "Fine, I'll wear it…but I'm losing the push-up bra!"

* * *

_Oh my gosh…oh my gosh…oh my gosh! Jade, CALM DOWN. Deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Don't get nervous…okay, too late for that. Don't let your nervousness cloud your judgment…too late for that, too. Uh…just try not to faint. Yeah, that I can do._

Jade was waiting in the Coordinator's entrance to the Contest Hall arena, clutching Hoppip's Poke` Ball tightly. With a trembling hand, she slipped a ball capsule with a flora seal onto it, then turned back to watch the current Coordinator's performance: Raquel and her Starmie had just dazzled the audience with a Water Pulse and Cosmic Power combo, which only served to make Jade even _more_ nervous. How was she going to be able to follow up that stunning display?

"_Wow!"_ the announcer's voice echoed through the stadium over the sound system. _"What a beautiful combination! That's Raquel and Starmie, ladies and gentlemen! And now for our next Coordinator…introducing Jade of New Bark Town!"_

That was Jade's cue.

Taking a deep breath, she straightened her choker, then ran out into the stage of the stadium. Although she was slightly overwhelmed by the size of the audience watching her, she managed to keep her movements graceful as she threw her Poke` Ball into the air.

"Hoppip, stage on!"

The Poke` Ball snapped open in mid-flight and the pink-and-green shape of Jade's Hoppip appeared in a flash of light and a shower of pink flower petals, hovering above the ground, as it was kept aloft by the slight breeze that was blowing. The Poke` Ball sailed back into Jade's hand.

"Hoppip!" Hoppip cried happily.

"Alright, Hoppip, use Bounce and then Sleep Powder and Poison Powder, just like we practiced," Jade commanded.

"Hoppip!"

The Cottonweed Pokemon obeyed its Trainer, floating to the ground, and then bouncing straight back up into the air almost faster then Jade's line of vision could follow. Once it was about level with the top level of the stands, Hoppip began to drift back towards the ground slowly. As it did, the breeze gently blew it in a circle as a flurry of iridescent and purple dust flew out from the ferns leaves on Hoppip's head. Jade thanked her stars that she had given Hoppip a Pecha Berry and Chesto Berry just before the contest to temporarily neutralize the effects of those attacks, otherwise everyone in the stadium would probably be knocked out.

Just before Hoppip reached the ground, the breeze began to blow back towards Jade, sending Hoppip in that direction also.

Inspiration suddenly struck the Coordinator. "Hoppip, use Synthesis!"

Hoppip, although it hadn't been anticipating the command, obeyed, beginning to glow with a beautiful rippling green light, which faded just as the Pokemon drifted back over to Jade.

A roar of applause sounded throughout the stadium.

"_A simple routine, and yet extremely effective!"_ the announcer cried. _"Ladies and Gentlemen, Jade and Hoppip!"_

Jade waved to the crowd a little sheepishly, while Hoppip, on the other hand, twirled around in the air and waved as much as its stumpy arms would allow, reveling in the attention.

She had been the last Coordinator to perform in the first round, so now she and all the other Coordinators competing were gathered in the lobby, anxiously watching the screen where the results of the first round would be displayed. As they were waiting, Jade spotted Raquel sitting nearby. Although she didn't want to stir things up with her any more than they were already stirred up, she felt that the polite thing would be to compliment her on her performance.

"Raquel?" Jade asked, tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention. The Cooltrainer turned.

"Hm? Oh, hello, Jade."

"I just wanted to tell you, you and your Starmie did really well; your routine was beautiful."

"Thank you."

End of conversation.

As Jade sat back down on a bench a good ways away from Raquel, she prepared Chikorita's Poke` Ball for the battle round with a ball capsule adorned with a yellow flora seal. And then she waited…

And waited…

And waited…

"_Well, I think we've kept you and the Coordinators waiting long enough! Here are the Coordinators who will be moving on to the second round!"_

All the eyes in the room were suddenly glued onto the screen…

Pictures of sixteen Coordinators appeared on the screen.

Jade was the third one in the second row!

"Yes!" she whisper-shouted to herself.

"WHAT?!"

Jade turned to see Raquel staring at the screen in disbelief.

"I didn't make it?!" the distraught Coordinator cried. "But…but I…this is rigged! There _has_ to be some mistake!"

Jade didn't say anything, but she knew why Raquel hadn't made it. In the middle of all the flash of Starmie's attacks, Starmie faded into the background, and all anyone noticed was the special effects. The display was beautiful, but she had missed the whole point: to show off her Pokemon. Jade had watched enough Diamond and Pearl anime to know how to make it through the Appeals round, but Raquel apparently didn't.

Jade couldn't stop herself from stifling a giggle at Raquel's expense. Oh, the irony of it.

_She_ was the rookie, huh?

* * *

"Guys, we're on in twenty seconds," Freddie informed Sam and Carly. Amber was seated in the car seat as iCarly's one-person in-studio audience.

"I can't believe we still don't know what we're gonna do for the last part of the show!" Carly panicked.

"It's okay, Carls," Sam tried to reassure her friend. "We'll just wing it when we get there, 'kay?"

"In five…" Freddie started. "…four…three…two…"

"Watashi wa Carly!"

"Watashi wa Sam!"

"And this is iCarly!"

The first thirty minutes of the show went exactly as planned: cat in the dishwater video, "I Work at Subway" song performance with Amber (A/N: Originally by Tim Hawkins, get on YouTube right now and look it up!), exploding a pineapple, How to Knock Someone Out With A Sock Full of Butter demonstration by Sam, featuring Gibby (poor guy), and a story by George, the bra that tells ghost stories.

And now the girls' improvisation skills would be tested to the max.

"And next, uh, on iCarly…" Carly said slowly, thinking of how long it would take to set up the Mexican jump rope bit.

PING!

"Freddie, is that Jade?" Sam whispered over to him.

"Yeah," Freddie whispered back. "It says she's calling from the Violet City Pokemon Center."

"Put her on," Carly ordered.

"Desperate girl say _what?_" Amber cried, reverting back to her deep Southern accent. She always did when she was surprised.

"Carly, are you su—" Freddie started.

"Just do it!"

Shrugging, Freddie clicked a key on his laptop, and a video image of Jade and Chikorita appeared on the flatscreen TV of the studio.

"_Hey, guys!" _Jade cried. _"Guess who just won the Violet Ri—"_

She suddenly stopped talking. Chikorita looked at her, seeming confused.

"_Um, why is Freddie pointing his camera at the screen?"_

"You guessed right, iCarly fans!" Carly cried. "That's my cousin Jade, who of course you remember from last week, there on the screen!"

"_Okay, what's going on?"_

Playing along, Sam said, "She _claims_ to have been sucked into the Pokemon World. However, it's, uh, going to be up to you, the fans of iCarly, to decide whether she's really there or this is just a crappy visual trick made by Fredward over there!"

"Hey!" Freddie snapped.

"_I cannot believe you!" _Jade yelled at them through the TV. _"You're turning me into a last-minute iCarly segment?!"_

"You see my cousin," Carly said a bit dramatically, "and you see the Pokemon…but! Is it real? Leave us a comment right here at iCarly dot com and let us know what you think about this whole situation!"

"And that's all the time we have for today!" Sam said. "Until next time, brush your teeth, go to church, and change your underwear!"

"But not in that order!" Carly laughed. "And remember to drive fast and take chances, cut people off, and use your road range if you have to!"

"And we're clear!" Freddie announced as he clicked off the camera. "…what in the world was _that_ all about?!"

* * *

"AGH!" Jade cried, slamming the phone back onto the receiver, then spin back around to face Conner, who had just picked up her Togepi from Nurse Joy and thus hadn't heard her conversation with the iCarly team. "I can't BELIEVE them! My cousin and her friends turned me into a poll on their webshow!"

"Oh, is that all?" Conner rolled her eyes. "From the way you were yelling at them, I figured they'd killed your best friend or something!"

"Togi, togeprrriiiii!" Togepi agreed.

"Chikori!" Chikorita concluded.

"What kinda poll is it, anyway?" Conner asked.

"They asked the viewers whether I really—" Jade stopped as she caught herself about to slip up again. "—uh, if I really won the Violet Ribbon or if I cheated."

"Well, that's mean!" Conner cried. "Anyone who watches _Johto 365_ knows that you won fair and square."

Jade smiled. "I guess so." She clicked her ribbon case open to briefly admire the purple, gold, and white Ribbon that her Hoppip and Chikorita had earned her. Jus as she slipped the ribbon case back into her bag, they suddenly heard the BANG of the door being slammed open. Chikorita and Togepi jumped in alarm.

"Jade, Conner!" Falkner called out as he ran into the Pokemon Center and over to the row of videophones where the two girls were sitting.

"Oh, hi, Falkner!" Jade greeted him. "What's up?"

"Okay, first of all," he said, pausing a moment to catch his breath, "congratulations on winning the contest, Jade."

Jade shrugged shyly. "It was nothing. Years of—I mean, lots of practice."

"I taught her everything she knows!" Conner bragged playfully.

"Oh, please!" Jade laughed. "The only thing you did was force me to wear a totally risqué outfit."

"Not this again, I'm telling you it was cute!"

"It was risqué!"

"Cute!"

"Risqué!"

"CUTE!"

"RISQUE!"

And then the two girls spontaneously burst into laughter.

Falkner sweatdropped. _What have I gotten myself into…?_

"Anyway," Conner cleared her throat as she and Jade calmed down. "What's the other reason for which you dropped by so kindly, Falkner?"

"While you two were at the contest…well, it'd be easier to show you than explain, come on! It's definitely worth seeing."

Jade barely had time to get Hoppip's Poke` Ball from Nurse Joy before Falkner led her and Conner all the way to the edge of town…near the field they had investigated the previous day!

"Why are we back here?" Jade asked.

"You'll see!" Falkner replied.

As the three came up on the field, they noticed a few other people there as well, seemingly admiring something. Jade began to wonder about that…

Until they actually saw the field.

"Oh!" Jade gasped.

The burnt, barren wasteland was gone. In its place was a field of rippling pink flowers stretching out as far as the eye could see.

"See? I told you it was worth seeing," Falkner said with a hint of admiration.

"It was!" Jade agreed. She started to kneel down to examine one of the flowers more closely, but Conner suddenly stopped her.

"Maybe this isn't a good idea!" Conner cried, a mysterious, dramatic passion in her voice. She put out an arm in front of Jade. "They look suspicious."

"Conner, it's okay," Falkner assured her. "They're just flowers, for crying out loud!"

"Yeah, obscenely pink flowers that sprang up out of nowhere!"

"Guys, chill out for a minute!" Jade told both of them. Pushing Conner's arm aside, she knelt and examined one of the flowers. It was hot pink in color with six petals shaped vaguely like leaves. She laughed as she realized what they were.

"They're Gracidea flowers!"

"Gracideas?" Falkner asked, confused. "I thought those only grew in Sinnoh."

"You usually see them in Sinnoh because that's the legendary Pokemon Shaymin's native region," Jade explained. "And that's usually where Shaymin stop to make a new Gracidea garden bloom. But some Shaymin must have seen what happened to the field and decided to make this one of their stops for the Flower Bearing!"

"Well, it _is_ kind of pretty," Conner admitted.

The three stood still, not speaking, for a minute, taking in the scenery.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Jade asked.

"They are," Falkner agreed.

But when Jade looked over at Falkner, she saw that he wasn't looking at the Gracidea flowers. He was looking up at the sky at a flock of Pidgey flying by on their way to Mount Silver.

"You weren't talking about the flowers when you agreed that they were beautiful?" Jade asked.

"You weren't talking about the Pidgey when you asked me in the first place?" Falkner asked.

A moment of silence. And then Jade burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Falkner asked, a half-smile crossing his face.

"You are!" Jade giggled.

* * *

**Not to toot my own horn, but I just got my permit, so I couldn't resist putting the road range bit in there! Hmmm...I wonder what role the Gracidea garden's going to play :) Read and review! Love you guys!**


	8. Chapter 8: iAm A Mother?

**Konichiwa, my friends! Alex here, and I am FINALLY updating. I'm really sorry it took so long for me to get this chapter out, but I've been sick a lot of the week and have been absolutely swamped with make-up work. And also, the guys at my writing group said I needed to stop putting author's notes in the middle of my stories. But I am going to continue doing just that for another chapter just to annoy them!! So ha. And again, HA! (Hehe, just kidding, I love you guys!) But anyway, here's Chapter 8! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Alright!" Conner cried, throwing three of her Poke` Balls and her Ultra Ball into the air. "Come on out, everyone!"

Red beams of light shot to the ground as the Balls opened and formed into Conner's Pokemon. The air was instantly filled with cries of "Squirt, Squirtle!" "Togi, togeprrriiiii!" "Weezing!" and a loud roar from Onix. Charizard had flown Conner there, so he was already out.

Yes, Conner was finally on her way back to Viridian City after more than a few detours. After flying for most of the first part of the day, she had stopped at a lakefront bordered by steep mountains between New Bark Town and Tohjo Falls to let Charizard rest and her Pokemon get some fresh air. Not that she couldn't use some rest herself, as well. Not long ago, she had won a battle with a trainer named Mallory, and her little Squirtle had taken down Mallory's supposedly unbeatable Flareon within three hits. Naturally, the blue Tiny Turtle Pokemon was extremely proud of itself. Now, watching a Squirtle gloat may be cute in its own way, but it's definitely NOT cute when said Squirtle pops out of its Poke` Ball to brag on itself while its said Trainer and her said Charizard are in the middle of flying, and said Squirtle accidentally burns itself on said Charizard's tail, thus causing said Squirtle to begin Water Gunning everything in sight, sending said Charizard and said Trainer jerking around in random directions and loops until said Trainer could finally reach said Squirtle's Poke` Ball and return it before it caused any more mayhem for said Charizard and said Trainer.

It had been a long morning in general.

"Phew!" Conner sighed as she shrugged out of her cropped leather jacket, threw it to a random place nearby, and plopped down against a tree. "Okay, you guys play while I just sit here for a week or three. Ow…" She rubbed her lower back, the only part she could reach. Flailing wildly out of control on a Charizard in mid-air could really take a toll on your spinal alignment, you know.

_Clatter, clatter, clatter. _A noise like rolling pebbles filled the air, along with an earthy skidding noise.

"Oh, what now?" Conner groaned, standing up. "Onix, Weezing, stand by. Squirtle, Charizard and Togepi, return." The three Pokemon disappeared into their Poke` Balls while Onix and Weezing maintained their stance, one on each side of Conner.

"Hello!"

"WHOA!" Conner whirled around suddenly. She certainly hadn't been expecting the source of the strange noises to come from behind her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," an older teenage girl with short purplish-pink hair and a Houndour standing by her side apologized, smiling a bit at Conner's expense. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," Conner replied, returning Onix but leaving Weezing out as a precautionary measure. "You just surprised me is all. I'm Conner, by the way."

"Carissa's the name. So, what's your errand at Tohjo Falls? Not too many people come back here."

"I'm on my way to Kanto," Conner explained. "I just stopped here to rest."

"Well, then," Carissa started, "I'd be careful if I were you. Like I said before, not many people come out here, so the terrain up ahead is pretty rugged. Tohjo Falls isn't exactly the safest cave to go through."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Conner said.

"Well, I'd like to stay and talk, but I've got to get to Goldenrod City by tomorrow. Houndour, let's—"

(Imagine "I Wanna Know What Love Is" playing in the background at this point.)

Conner and Carissa both stared for a moment, and they had good excuse to. For Carissa's Houndour was batting her eyes flirtatiously at Conner's Weezing, who currently had hearts in its eyes.

The two girls looked at each other.

"Weird…" they both said simultaneously.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Violet City, Falkner had just finished a gym battle, which he won, of course. Very few of his challengers ever left the gym with the Zephyr badge.

The blue-haired boy had just opened the gym doors to go outside when—

"AAAH!"

CRASH.

"Ow!" Falkner groaned as he sat up and whatever had crashed into him as he had opened the door got off of him.

"Sorry, Falkner!"

He looked up at the source of the obviously female voice and saw Jade, shaking out her tousled orange hair.

Falkner laughed in spite of himself. "We seem to have a talent for running over each other, don't we?"

"I'm _so_ sorry!" Jade cried, her cheeks flushing in her embarrassment. "I tripped over the doorstep and—well, ran into you!"

"It's okay, everyone trips," Falkner told her, his lips twitching slightly as he tried to keep himself from laughing again. She was kind of cute when she was embarrassed…

_Wait, what?! What am I thinking? I barely even know her!_

"Not to sound rude," Falkner asked as he stood and helped Jade up, "but what are you doing here? I thought you were training for the Azalea Town contest."

"Actually, first I returned that totally risqué outfit that Conner made me wear—"

"Why? I thought you looked good in it."

Jade's entire face went red. "That's not funny!" she wailed.

"I was only kidding. So, anyway, you returned the outfit—"

"—and then I did about an hour of contest training with my Pokemon, then took them back to the Pokemon Center to rest—well, except for one—and now I'm here!"

Falkner blinked. "Why did you take all but one of your Pokemon to the Pokemon Center?"

Jade smirked a bit. "Well, why do you think I'm here?" She pulled a Poke` Ball from the belt of her khaki capris, then spun around once like she would in a contest before throwing the Ball into the air, crying, "Come on out, _Skiploom!_"

A green Pokemon with a yellow eight-petaled flower on the top of its head—or body, really—appeared from the Poke` Ball. "Skip!" it cried.

"Your Hoppip evolved? That's great!" Falkner congratulated Jade.

"I know!" Jade said. "We got into a battle with a Trainer named Carissa's Dustox, and after we won she evolved!" Jade practically glowed with pride as she scratched the Cottonweed Pokemon under one of its floppy ears.

* * *

"So, why are Grass-types your favorites?" Falkner asked as he, Jade, Chikorita, and Hoothoot, perched on Falkner's shoulder, walked down one of the more quiet roads of Violet City just for the heck of it. They had just picked up Chikorita, Oddish, and Falkner's Dodrio from the Pokemon Center.

Jade mulled his question over for a moment. Why _were_ Grass Pokemon her favorites? "Well, I'd have to say I like Grass-types the best because they remind me of nature. I've always been an outdoorsy person, so I guess that's why I'm drawn to them. What about you? Why do you prefer Flying-types?"

"That's why!" Falkner smiled as he pointed up at the bright blue midday sky overhead. "Just like you said you're drawn to nature…_I'm_ drawn to the sky! And that makes me closer to my Flying Pokemon than I could ever be to any other type."

Jade nodded, understanding where he was coming from. "Mhm. I actually like Flying-types myself. Grass Pokemon—and Bug Pokemon too—are both beautiful types. But Flying Pokemon have an air of majesty about them that no other Pokemon have."

"I guess," Falkner said, "that all Pokemon have a certain attribute that no other type has—"

BEEP, BEEP!

"Hm?" Jade pulled out her Poke`gear and flipped it open. "…yikes! It's noon already?!" She closed her Poke`gear and turned back to Falkner as Chikorita jumped up onto her shoulder. "Oh my gosh, I—I meant to leave for Union Cave around ten! I'm sorry I've got to rush off like this, Falkner, but if I don't leave within the next half-hour or so, I'm not going to get there by dark."

"Yeah, you told me you were leaving today. You've got my Poke`gear number, right?"

"Yep!" Jade flashed the contacts screen of her Poke` gear, which contained Mom, Professor Elm, Conner, Falkner, and Prince Caspian. **(A/N: Just checking to see if you were paying attention! Were you? *stares at reader suspiciously* If you skim my story, I will hire Sam to hurt you.)**

"Well, Chikorita," Jade sighed, "we'd better hit the road. And…Falkner?"

"Hm?" The two were standing facing each other.

"When I come back to Violet City, it'll probably be after I've won the five ribbons I need to enter the Johto Grand Festival. After that, I'm going to start challenging gyms." She smiled at him. "And you're going to be the first one I beat!"

Falkner smirked. "I wouldn't be too sure about _that_."

"Well, we'll just see, won't we?"

Jade turned on the heel of her green-and-white sneaker and set off back down the road towards Route 31, stopping only once to wave goodbye.

* * *

Xandra and her Espeon made their way through the hallways of the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. She opened a door labeled "Control Room" and went inside, where a bored-looking band man was typing at a computer.

"Excuse me, sir?" Xandra asked.

"Hm, wha?" The man turned to face the navy-haired teenager. "Hey, this area is for employees only! I'm gonna need to see some identify—"

"Sir, I'm with the Pokemon G-Men," Xandra said firmly, whipping out her I.D. card from the pocket of her jean capris. "We have reason to believe that transmissions from this radio tower have been used for illegal purposes. I'm going to need a full record of all radio signals in and out of the tower from the past two months."

The man simply gaped at Xandra for a moment, a look of horror slowly spreading across his face. The next moment, he leapt out of his chair and made a bolt for the door.

"Hilly, now!" Xandra shouted.

Hileriarai instantly flew in front of the man's path from the hallway, a Girafarig by her side.

"Light screen!" the blonde Trainer commanded.

The Girafarig erected a rippling wall of golden light that blocked the man's path. He turned back towards Xandra in a momentary state of confusion.

Xandra smirked; just as she had planned. "Espeon, Hypnosis!"

"Es," Espeon cried as she stared at the man with glowing lavender eyes. Two seconds later, he was knocked out on the floor.

"Nice save, Hileriarai," Xandra thanked her cousin as Girafarig took down the Light Screen and it and its Trainer stepped into the room, an Eevee following her.

"No problem, Xandra," Hileriarai replied as she returned Girafarig to its Safari Ball. "I should be the one thanking _you_ for the brilliant idea of using Lance as a distraction so we could sneak up here!"

Xandra laughed a little. "Yeah, he's probably going to kill me for that after we get back to HQ!"

"_I MOST CERTAINLY AM!"_ Lance's voice blasted through the comms unit in her ear, causing her to flinch.

"Lance!" she hissed as she rubbed the side of her head. "Was that _really_ necessary?"

"_YES IT WAS!"_

"How exactly did you carry out my idea, Hilly?" Xandra asked as Hileriarai sat down at the swivel chair at the computer, her Eevee jumping onto her lap.

"I shouted 'Hey, everybody, it's the Champion!'" Hileriarai replied. "That set about fifty fangirls loose on him."

"_IT'S MORE LIKE TWO HUNDRED NOW!" _ Xandra and Hileriarai both flinched.

"Okay, enough about that," Xandra sighed. "Lance can fend for himself for awhile. You go ahead and do your mad ninja computer thing."

"You got it." Hileriarai immediately turned to the computer and began typing furiously. The room was silent except for the _clack-clack-clack_ of the keyboard as Hileriarai, Xandra, Espeon, and Eevee all stared at the computer screen intently.

"Are you sure you can do this, cuz?" Xandra asked worriedly. "It's never taken you this long to hack into anything before…"

"I'm sure I can," Hileriarai snapped. "This is just a really tough encryption code…there! I'm in. Here's a copy of the transmissions report…look!" She pointed at a line of text on the screen. "That's enough proof, Team Rocket has _definitely_ been using this tower as one of their bases of communication!" She plugged her FlashDrive into the USB port of the computer and began downloading all of the audio files she could find with the file name "Rocket" onto it.

"Hey, Lance, I think we're onto something!" Xandra spoke into her comms unit excitedly.

"_*huff*…*huff*…well, I'm glad things are working out for _some_ of us."_

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of Goldenrod City, Lance had managed to escape the massive mob of groupies that Hileriarai had set on his trail. How? The classic: hide behind a building just out of the line of fire and watch them stampede by out of sight.

"Phew," the Dragon Trainer sighed as he leaned back against the wall of his hiding place. "Those two are going to hear it from me when we get out of here!"

"Having problems with your teammates again, Lance?"

"Carissa," Lance greeted the newcomer as he turned to face her. "It's about time you showed up."

The pink-haired teen laughed. "And not a moment too soon, I expect. I acquired the satellite photos of Viridian, Ilex, Petalburg, and Eterna Forests, as your partner Xandra requested. No suspicious activity was spotted going on in any of them."

"Hm…" Lance sighed, deep in thought. "Why would Team Rocket have a photo of a forest in their Project Beta file if Project Beta has nothing to do with a forest? It just doesn't make sense…"

"I'm sorry if I'm getting off topic, but do you know who's in charge of this 'Project Beta'?" Carissa asked. "I recently heard about it from one of my contacts in the Orange Archipelago. If we could get more information on the leader's whereabouts and activities, we might find out more about Team Rocket's plan itself."

"All we know about her is that she's a Rocket Admin named Celia Hino. You heard of her?"

"Hm, no, afraid I haven't.

* * *

Jade sighed contentedly as she walked down Route 31, glad she had decided to take the scenic route. The newly-bloomed Gracidea garden went on longer than she had expected; the sun was starting to go down and she was still walking along the edge of the extensive field of "obscenely" pink flowers. Chikorita seemed to be enjoying herself, running back and forth from playing in the flowers to walking beside Jade on the path. There were no other people on the route, so it was quiet and peaceful.

…until Jade heard a mysterious rustling noise coming from within the flowers by the road. **(A/N: You thought I was gonna say mysterious ticking noise, ADMIT IT!)**

"Hm?"

"Chik?"

Both Jade and Chikorita watched intently as the rustling movement of the flowers grew closer to the path…until the source finally came out of the Gracideas and onto the road.

"Oh! It's a…Shaymin?" Jade asked herself, somewhat surprised.

It was true: the hedgehog-like Gratitude Pokemon stood right in front of Jade and Chikorita. Judging by its smaller-than-usual size, Jade decided it must have been a baby Shaymin.

The Shaymin looked up at Jade, and as it did a look of joy crossed its face. _"Mommy?"_

"Huh?" Jade wasn't _that_ surprised; she knew Shaymin could communicate through telepathy. But she _was_ a little surprised at what the tiny Grass-type Legendary had called her. "Little guy, sorry, but I'm not your—"

"_Mommy!" _the Shaymin cried as it leapt up into Jade's arms.

"Whoa, there! I didn't say—"

Jade stopped mid-sentence as she looked down at the tiny Pokemon, who was dozing off with a look of absolute contentment. Jade smiled a bit. The little guy _was_ kind of cute…

"Alright, I guess you can stick with us," she sighed as she patted Shaymin's head. "Chikorita, meet the new baby of the family."

"Chikor!" Chikorita cried, jumping up and putting its front legs on Jade's knee as to get a better look at the sleeping Shaymin.

"Shhh!" Jade shushed Chikorita frantically. "You'll wake her up!"

* * *

**AWWWW! Jade's a mommy! :-) Weren't expecting THAT, were ya? Really, I don't know _how_ there can be baby Legendaries…but hey, if they can do it with a Lugia in the anime and the Time-Space trio in HeartGold and SoulSilver, then _I_ can do it in my story. Get over it. :-) Take the poll on which iCarly characters I should bring into the Pokemon World that's on my profile, brush your teeth, go to church, and change your underwear! Seeya at the next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9: iHave Boy Troubles

**Hiya, Fanfiction goers! Just for future reference, I don't KNOW if PokéYen is the right word for money in _Pokemon_, it's just the name that _I_ use for it. Saw it on Bulbapedia, it's a lot easier to say than Pokemon Dollar. And, by the way, the character Chris in this chapter is "dedicated" to my ex-boyfriend of the same name.**

…

**Anyway, enjoy the story. Unless you're Chris. If you're Chris, buzz off and never come back to this URL ever again. Thank you.**

* * *

"_You gotta live to party, bust your move, everybody's—"_

"Oh, snap," Amber grumbled as she fished around in her pocket for her cell phone.

Freddie stifled a laugh from where he, Carly, Sam, and Amber sat on Carly's sofa watching _America Sings._ "You like the Jonas Brothers, Amber?"

"Shut up, Fredward," Amber snapped as she flipped open her phone, "unless you wanna wake up in a banana crate in the southern part of Guadalajara. Hello?...What do you want _now_, Chris?!...No, you CAN'T talk to Jade!...Why not? One, she's not here, two, she _personally_ gave me permission to knock you unconscious if you ever _tried_ to talk to her again!...Yes, I KNOW I can't knock you unconscious over the phone. It's the concept!...Where _is_ she?!...No, she's _not_ really in the Pokemon World, genius!...Wait, repeat that?...oh my gosh, you _stalker! _I am hanging up now!"

"What was _that_ all about?" Sam asked as Amber snapped her phone shut and stuffed it back into her pocket angrily.

"Jade's jerkish ex-boyfriend called _again_," Amber cried. "And—"

"That Chris guy from New Orleans?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, that's him," Amber tried to continue impatiently. "But he's—"

"Carly mentioned him once; when did he and Jade break up?" Freddie asked.

"Will you people stop interrupting me?!" Amber yelled. "They only dated for about a month, then they broke up, but we have bigger problems than that, because _CHRIS IS IN JOHTO TOO!"_

"What?!" Sam and Carly burst out simultaneously.

"That's what I thought you'd say!"

"Okay," Freddie said, "this is getting too much of a coincidence to be normal. Someone who knows about your family—" He looked at Carly, "—has to be working behind the scenes of all of this _some_how."

"You mean," Carly said, "that you think someone _sent_ Jade and Chris to the Pokemon World?"

"You have a better theory?" Freddie shrugged.

"Well, no, but…" Carly trailed off.

"But," Amber continued for her, "who would have enough computer smarts and or motivation to send Jade _and_ her ex-boyfriend to another dimen—"

"THAT'S IT!" Carly cried excitedly, causing everyone to jump slightly as she leapt off the couch and whirled to face Sam, Freddie, and Amber. "I think it's time we went and had a chat with a _very_ good friend of ours."

"Who?" Amber asked, raising one eyebrow.

* * *

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about," Nevel Papperman scoffed. "How did you get into my house, anyway?!"

"Don't avoid the question!" Freddie ordered.

Carly looked at Sam and Amber, then snapped her fingers. The two cousins closed in on the sandy-haired eleven-year-old.

"Wait, what are you—aah! Put me _down!_" Nevel cried as Sam and Amber each grabbed him by the front of his polo shirt and slammed him against the wall of his living room. Thank goodness Mrs. Papperman was out grocery shopping or the police would have been there by now.

"I've got Colonel Morgan on speed dial," Carly warned. "And I'll press call unless you tell us how and why you sent my cousin _and_ her ex-boyfriend to the Pokemon World! Freddie, get this on video, we may need it later."

"Sure thing," Freddie said, pulling a camcorder out of his backpack.

"I didn't do it, I _swear_ I didn't!" Nevel pleaded. "I didn't even know Carly _had_ a cousin…I don't even watch Pokemon! _Please_ just put me down!"

There was silence for a few moments.

"Guys," Freddie said quietly, "I think he's telling the truth."

"What are you thinkin', Freddie!?!" Sam cried. "Of course he's not! He's _Nevel! _He hates us!"

"If we're taking a vote, _I'm_ with Freddie!" Nevel said.

"Do you think he'd lie in the face of getting arrested by the military?" Freddie asked. "I know _I_ wouldn't.

The three girls thought for a minute.

"Okay, put him down," Carly sighed as she put her cell phone away.

"Oh thank you, thank you, _thank_ you," Nevel sighed as Sam and Amber let go of his shirt.

"You got lucky _this_ time, brat," Amber hissed. "If I find out you lied later, you're gonna wish you'd never crossed paths with Amber Lee Spier! Got it?"

"I'm not scared of you _or _Sam," Nevel smirked triumphantly.

"I've got your mom's number on speed dial. I'll ask again: _got_ it, little twerp?"

"Yes ma'am!" Nevel squeaked.

"Our work here is done, then," Sam announced cheerfully as she and Amber linked arms and skipped out of Nevel's house in a very "we're-off-to-see-the-wizard"-esque fashion.

Nevel, Carly, and Freddie stared after them, the two enemies currently united by being completely weirded out.

"What are they…?" Nevel asked.

"Too much Peppy Cola before we came," Freddie explained.

"Ah."

* * *

"Well, guys, it looks like we'll get to Azalea Town alive after all!" Jade smiled as she stepped out of the twilight of Union Cave into the bright sunlight of Route 33, Chikorita trotting along by her feet and her newly-caught baby Shaymin happily hitching a ride on her shoulder. The Coordinator was in a rather nice mood, as usual, that morning. Chikorita, Oddish, and Skiploom had welcomed Shaymin to the team with open arms (even though Oddish didn't really _have_ arms, but that's beside the point), Jade had won almost every battle she had fought in Union Cave (thank goodness most all of the Trainers in there had Rock or Ground-types, except for a couple of Firebreathers, whom she avoided), and she had won around 6000 PokéYen in prize money. Catching Shaymin had provided her with a good excuse to pick up a new hair accessory: a Gracidea flower from the garden outside of Violet City, which she wore tucked into the base of her ponytail. The Azalea Town Contest was three days away, and with one Ribbon under her belt, she wasn't nervous in the least.

Yes, life was good.

"_It's pretty here, Mommy!"_ Shaymin cried as it jumped down to walk with Chikorita, looking around at the grass, trees, and wildflowers bordering the path to Azalea Town.

"It is," Jade agreed with a laugh as the trio made their way down said path. She was still getting used to being a "mom."

It wasn't far to Azalea in the games, Jade knew, only about two-hundred or so squares. Now if you convert that to anime terms it would be—okay, when all else fails, check the Poke`gear map.

"Okay," Jade said slowly to no one in particular as she examined the screen, still walking. "If we just came out of Union Cave, then we would be…only half a mile away! Cool!" She clipped the Poke`gear back onto her bag, and after about twenty more minutes of walking, the rural forest-side town of Azalea came into view.

_Well, first I'd better head to the Pokemon Center and check in with Amber and Carly and the rest, _Jade thought, picking Shaymin back up, as it had begun to fall asleep standing up. _Then I'll…I don't know what I'll do next. Eh, I'll figure something out._

She began walking the streets, looking for the Pokemon Center. Azalea Town was quiet; not many people were out, but the ones that were seemed very pleasant. A young woman walking with her Snubull waved hello; a few children playing ran up for a few minutes to fawn over Chikorita and Shaymin; and a teenage boy hanging out with a group of his friends, whom she recognized as the blonde boy with the Roselia from the Violet Contest Hall, winked at her.

_Oh, finally, there's the Pokemon Center! Thank goodness, even a Shaymin can get kind of heavy if you've been holding it for too—WHAT?!_

Despite all the friendly people she had met in Azalea before, Jade had just spotted a not-so-welcome face in the distance. She would recognize him anywhere: the shaggy strawberry-blonde hair, the ice-blue eyes, the signature faded jeans, black hoodie, and skater shoes. The only thing new was that a Jolteon walked beside him and he had three Poke` Balls on his belt.

…_Chris?! What's HE doing here?!_

Not knowing what else to do, Jade made a bolt for the Pokemon Center door.

"Chikor!" Chikorita cried as she ran after her Trainer, as if to say, "Wait up!"

Jade gave Oddish and Skiploom's Poke` Balls and the sleeping Shaymin to Nurse Joy in a rush, then immediately dashed to the videophones, let Chikorita hop onto her lap, and punched in the iCarly webchat URL.

"_JADE!" _the image of Amber yelled rather loudly over the phone. _"THAT JERKAZOID CHRIS IS—"_

"Here, I know!" Jade cried. "I saw him about thirty seconds ago!"

"_JADE!" _Carly cried as she shoved Amber to the side a bit so she could be seen. _"I'm guessing Amber already informed you of your situation?!"_

"Yes! He's here in Azalea Town and—"

"_Jade," _Amber whisper-shouted, suddenly quiet. _"Don't make any sudden movements."_

"Why not?" Jade asked, cocking her head to the side a bit, confused.

"_Don't look now," _Carly joined Amber in whisper-shouting._ "But—"_

"Don't tell me," Jade whispered back, a bit of panic leaking through her voice. "He's right behind me, isn't he?"

Amber and Carly both nodded slowly.

"_Maybe we should call back later…?" _Amber suggested.

"Maybe…you should," Jade sighed. She didn't want to face her ex-boyfriend anymore than the next girl did. "Seeya."

"_Seeya."_

_Click. _The screen went blank as Jade hung up the receiver.

Taking a deep breath, she set Chikorita, who was looking at her concernedly, down onto the floor. She stood, turned on her heel, and faced her adversary with an emotionless—strange for her—expression plastered on her face.

"Hey, Jay-Jay," Chris said as he smiled at her, though at the same time his eyes swept from her orange ponytail to her green-and-white sneakers. Jade's cheeks burned.

"Don't call me that, Chris. How did you get here?" she asked, pleading with her body mentally to return her temperature to normal.

"Well, how did _you_ get here?"

"I don't know."

"Did you think I would, then?"

"Okay, sorry. I suppose a better question would be, _why_ are you here?"

"I wanted to see you," the redhead replied matter-of-factly.

"I'll ask again, _why?_" Jade crossed her arms.

"Because I wanted to apologize, okay?" Chris reached out and grabbed Jade's hand. She glanced down at their hands, slightly surprised at his sudden gesture, but neither encouraged or protested against it. She merely looked back up at him curiously, wondering what he was going to try to pull over her eyes this time.

"It was really jerkish of me to leave you for Sara. I cared about you that whole time, not her, and was just too stupid to see it. Will you forgive me?"

…_does he really mean that? No, that's just what a player would say when he's trying to get an ex back! How cliché can he get?! Don't fall for it, don't fall for it…_

"Chris," Jade said smoothly, "I _forgave_ you the day you left me. But that doesn't mean that I'll just welcome you back into my life with open arms. In fact, I'm not welcoming you back at all."

Chris stared at her, sky blue eyes meeting light green. "Maybe this'll convince you." Before Jade could react, Chris had yanked her into his chest, his mouth covering hers in a rough kiss. One of his arms was constricted around Jade's waist and his other hand was at the back of her neck, making escape impossible.

"Oh!" Jade gasped for breath as Chris released her. Thank goodness there weren't many people in the Pokemon Center at the moment! She had an angry remark ready, but it took her a moment to regain her composure enough to say it. She may have hated Chris's guts, but _darn, _the boy could kiss!

Chikorita had stood off to the side, her eyes darting back and forth between Jade and Chris, trying to figure out what was going on here. Another Pokemon Trainer or Pokemon trying to hurt her mistress she could figure out, but didn't know what to do when someone attacked her mistress with his lips. Chris's Jolteon had been staring curiously at Chikorita during the whole ordeal.

"You know what?" Jade said angrily. "I think if you really did care about me as much as you say, you would respect the fact that I had moved on! I'm sorry, but this is goodbye, for _good!_ Come on, Chikorita!"

"Chikor!" Chikorita cried, hopping up and turning her back on Chris and his Jolteon as Jade did. The two made their way towards the door of the Pokemon Center.

"Jade, wai—" Chris's voice was cut off as the automatic doors slid shut behind Chikorita and a seething Jade. She didn't get angry often, but when she was mad, she was MAD. And if one thing got her angry, it was being used. She _hated_ when people took advantage of her just because she was an easy target because of her gentle nature. And it was even worse when someone who she had thought she really liked was the one doing it!

Azalea Town seemed even more quiet than before. That moment of silence seemed to last for hours…and then:

"Um, excuse me? I saw what ha—"

"_WHAT NOW?!_" Jade turned and yelled at whoever had addressed her whom she had presumed to be Chris.

"Oh…sorry. Is this is a bad time?" the teenage boy who had actually been the one to speak to her apologized. He had spiky sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, and was wearing black jeans and a green jacket.

"Oh, no, _I'm_ sorry!" Jade cried. "I thought you were, uh, somebody else."

"Lemme guess, you thought I was the skater boy you just finished making out with in there?" the boy laughed.

Jade flushed and cried, "We were _not_ making out! _He_ kissed _me!_ No willful participation on my part!"

"CHIKOR!" Chikorita suddenly yelled.

"LARVITAR!" A Larvitar jumped out from behind the boy and locked eyes with Chikorita. The two Pokemon got up in each other's faces and glared at each other, growling a bit.

"Chikorita!" Jade groaned. "Now isn't the time for picking fights with—wait a minute!" She looked at the boy again. "Oh, yeah! You're Josh! My Chikorita and your Larvitar had a little spat back in Violet City."

"Ah, you remembered," Josh smiled. "But I don't think I ever caught your name back in Violet."

"Jade, Jade Villerubia."

Josh looked surprised for a moment. "Jade..? I thought you looked familiar! I knew you back in Kanto when we were, like, six!"

…_is this guy sober?_

"Uh, what?" Jade asked, now extremely confused.

"You went back and forth between Viridian City and Lavender Town all the time!"

"Uh, no, I didn't. I never lived in Viridian City…I've never even _been_ to Viridian City!"

_Well, I have in HeartGold and LeafGreen, but not in real life._

Josh was now staring at her like she had two heads. "…do you have amnesia or something? Of course you're from Viridian! And I'm from Lavender …you really don't remember?"

Jade shook her head.

"Well, this is certainly weird," Josh sighed. "We can't _both_ be right. But either way…can we just pick up like we'd been friends before?"

With an inaudible sigh, Jade replied, "Even though this situation _is_ a little weird…I'd like to be friends, and if we _were_ friends before, then I'd like to still be friends!"

"Then I guess it's settled!"

"CHIKORI!"

"LARVITAR!"

"Well," Jade sighed, "_they're_ not settled."

"What are they fighting over, anyway?"

"Beats me. What do you think Pokemon argue about?"

"Beats me."

Jade looked on as Chikorita and Larvitar continued shouting at each other, wondering what they could be saying. No sooner had the thought entered her mind than did another thought that wasn't her own enter as well. She barely had time to comprehend what it was before it was gone.

"I know what they're arguing about," Jade suddenly said.

"Wait, what?"

"They're fighting over whose Trainer is better—sort of a 'my Ponyta is bigger than your Ponyta' kind of thing."

"Okay, not that I don't _know_ who's obviously going to win that argument, but how did you figure that out?"

"I…think Chikorita just told me."

Josh stared at her like she had two heads. "Uh, don't get me wrong, that's _way_ cool, but again, how in the world did you manage that?!"

How _had_ she managed it? "I honestly don't kn—"

"Chikor!"

"Larvitar!"

"Chikor!"

"Larvitar!"

"Chi—"

"Alright, that's enough," Josh sighed, holding up a Poke` Ball. "Return, Larvitar." The Rock-Ground Pokemon went inside the Ball in a stream of red energy. "Sorry, Jade, you were saying?"

"I honestly don't know how I heard Chikorita's thoughts," Jade mused. "But…you said I'm supposedly from Viridian City, right?"

"Not _supposedly,_ but whatever floats your boat."

"Do you have any Pokemon that recently got hurt in a battle?"

Josh blinked. "Well, I do have my Skarmory that I was taking to the Pokemon Center, but what does this have to do with—"

"Could you send it out for a minute?"

With a shrug, Josh replied, "Okay then," then pulled a Poke` Ball and let the Armor Bird Pokemon out.

"Skar!" it cried. Jade noticed it had a nasty-looking scratch on its gleaming steel wing. She knelt down, closed her eyes, and gently placed her palm in the injury.

_I hope this works…but then again, I'm kind of worried about what it will prove if it _does _work…_

"Whoa!"

It was Josh who had spoken. Somewhat startled, Jade opened her eyes and yanked her hand away from Skarmory's wing.

The scratch was gone.

"How did you _do_ that?!" Josh cried. "You can hear the thoughts of Pokemon _and_ heal them, too?! That's…kind of freaky!"

Jade wasn't paying attention to anything he was saying.

_The only people who can do this kind of thing are people who were born in Viridian Forest…but that can't be right! I was born in another _universe_, for crying out loud! I've always lived in Louisiana! How can it be that I have the powers of Viridian Forest?!_

"How did you do that?" a much harsher voice demanded from behind the two Trainers, Chikorita, Larvitar, and Skarmory, jerking Jade out of her trance and momentarily stopping Chikorita and Larvitar's argument. They all turned to face the newcomer.

Silver.

* * *

**OMIGOSH HE'S BACK! =8-O**

**What part does Silver have to play in all of this? Is Nevel hiding something from Carly, Sam, Freddie, and Amber? Why am I asking you all of these questions?!**

**Vote in the poll on my profile on which characters I should make aura guardians! Read and review or I will kill you and Conner will plan the funeral. Well, not really, but it's the concept. :)**


	10. Chapter 10: iRival Battle

**(Insert something funny for me to say in the introduction here)**

**Enjoy the story!**

* * *

"Xandra? I think you should see this."

Xandra turned from where she had been training with her Sneasel and Espeon in the yard behind the Ecruteak City Pokemon Center and ran back over to the tree that Hileriarai was lounging against, checking her email on her dark blue laptop.

"What's up?" Xandra asked, crouching beside her cousin. She giggled as her Riolu hopped onto her shoulder from behind.

"I got a really weird email," Hileriarai said. "Look."

Xandra looked at the laptop screen and read:

_Pokemon G-Women Hileriarai and Xandra Westenra,_

_Yes, I know who you are and I know of your mission to stop Team Rocket's Project Beta. Take a look around Bery Forest on Kin Island of the Sevii Archipelago. My friends and I have noticed some strange goings-on there. Team Rocket also has a base on Chrono Island in the same island chain. It would be worth your while to check this out._

_Sincerely,_

_An anonymous concerned citizen_

"What's the email address?" Xandra asked automatically, her spy training in identifying unknown subjects kicking in.

"It's too vague to help us," Hileriarai replied as she shook her head. "It's dratini123 at pokemail dot com." No way we can decipher a name from that. And I couldn't break through the encryption code on the IP address, either."

"But we _do_ know that only a hacker as good as you or someont with inside sources could have found out our email address," Xandra mused. "That narrows it down quite a bit."

"And now," Hileriarai added, "The only question is…is whoever told us this really on our side?"

"It's the only lead we have right now."

"Hm…True. Call Lance and tell him we're going to the Sevii Islands. I think it's best we trust this anonymous concerned citizen…for now at least."

"When will we know _not_ to?"

"As soon as that email makes my computer blow up."

* * *

A lone girl sat on the edge of a bluff overlooking the ocean which bordered Fortune Island. The sun was just beginning to ruse up out of the sea, dyeing the sky with pale blues and pinks.

The girl herself had chestnut brown hair which glinted red in the sunlight, cascading down her back in rippling waves, and deep olive green eyes. Black slacks, a dark blue t-shirt, and a black jacket covered a thin, curvy frame, and a dark blue waist bag and six Poke` Balls rested on the ground by her hand.

"*giggle*! Had a feeling you'd be up here, Lauren!"

"Hm?" The girl turned, and a small amused smile crossed her face as she saw another girl half jogging, half skipping up the hill towards her. She had a sandy brown pin-straight ponytail, bluish-green eyes, and was garbed in an ocean blue halter top that showed a bit of her midriff, a black denim miniskirt, black sandals, and wristbands that matched her shirt. A curious Pichu with three spikes on its left ear hopped along behind her. Lauren usually preferred to be alone, but she didn't mind the company of her best friend, one of the few friends that she had, really.

"You know me all too well, Alex," Lauren smiled as Alex and her Pichu plopped down next to her on the Cliffside.

"Well, ahb-viously!" Alex giggled. She had always been a terrible giggler. "You come here _every_ morning, early bird that you are! Where's Blaze?"

"Still sleeping." Alex had been referring to Lauren's Blazekin, who was usually outside of its Poke` Ball.

"Of course. You even wake up earlier than your Pokemon!"

"Oh, shut up," Lauren smirked as she playfully shoved Alex.

"Gee, no need to bring this to violence!" Alex cried.

"Pichu pi!" the spiky-eared Pichu put in.

"If you know me well enough to know where I am at six thirty in the morning, you ought to know when I'm kidding around!" Lauren laughed. "I don't do it that often."

"Too true." Alex pulled her knees up to her chest as Pichu hopped up onto her shoulder. "Are you _sure_ you can't stay in the Islands for awhile longer?" You've only been visiting for a few days!"

"I'm sure, Alex. I've got my third set of badges to complete, you know. I'm planning on challenging Morty next."

"You're battling your hometown's gym leader? Wish I could see that! It isn't gonna turn into a 'my Gengar is better than your Gengar' thing, is it?"

Lauren grunted. "_Please._ Shadow could pound Morty's Gengar senseless any day."

Alex laughed. "I'm sure he could!"

Lauren sighed as she stood, picking up her Poke` Balls and fastening her bag around her waist. "I'd better get going. My ferry to Olivine leaves at seven. Did you ever get a reply from the Pokemon G-Men?"

"Yup!" Alex nodded. "Those two Xandra and Hileriarai said they would be her e within the week." She stood up as well.

"Did you reply to them?"

"Well, after they told me they were coming…I told them about you and—"

"You _what?!_ Are you trying to jeopardize this whole thing, Alex?"

"But I didn't think that—"

"I'm a _former Pokemon thief! _Do you think they're going to trust me now—or even _you_, for that matter?"

"But we're all working together for a common purpose—to stop Team Rocket!" Alex argued. "You'd thought about _joining_ Team Rocket before! They'd value a source with inside info!"

"Or they'd think I was a double agent! People judge you by your background, Alex!"

It was silent for a few moments.

"You know," Lauren said quietly, "this is the first time we've fought over anything serious."

"It is…I'm sorry!" Alex cried. "I should have asked before I told them about your connection to Team Rocket!"

"No, _I'm_ sorry for overreacting."

"Okay, we're both sorry!"

"Should we hug or something?"

"I think we should!"

"Uh, Alex?"

"Yeah, Lauren?"

"You didn't booby trap that email, did you?"

"…I might've."

* * *

"Silver?!" Jade cried as she quickly stood up from her kneeling position by Skarmory.

"Who?" Josh echoed, returning his Pokemon.

"What are you doing here?" Jade asked, wondering why oh why the redhead had chosen that particular moment to show up, when she had only one Pokemon with her.

"Don't avoid the question, Jade," Silver demanded. "How did you heal that guys's Skarmory?"

"Hey," Josh snapped, "the name's Josh, bucko, not _guy!_"

"Whatever."

"I don't _know_ how!" Jade cried, stamping her sneaker-clad foot on the pavement. "I just _did_ it, okay?!"

"Whoa, are you alright?" Josh asked. "I thought girls only stomped on TV!"

"Josh," Jade hissed, getting an anime vein, "I just got dissed by an ex and now I have to deal with my rival. Now is NOT the time to ask me if I'm ALRIGHT!"

"Okay, okay, sorry! Geez," Josh muttered. "You just…were never one to lose your temper like this."

"Well, maybe I'm not feeling quite like MYSELF at the moment!"

She turned back towards Silver. "How's that stolen Cyndaquil of yours doing? I'll bet it hates you."

Silver smirked. "Oh, quite the contrary. It's already evolved. Stronger than your starter _and_ Legendary combined."

"How did _you_ know I had a Legendary?"

"If we're playing _that_ game, then how did you know it was a Cyndaquil that I stole from Professor Elm?"

"Why you—" Jade started as she clenched her fist, but Josh interrupted her by placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down, Jade. This is turning into not much more than an insult exchange, and you don't have to sink to his level."

Jade took a deep breath, inhaling the calming scent Chikorita was giving off from below her, then exhaled. "Thanks. I needed that."

"Don't mention it." Josh turned to look at Silver, crossing his arms. "If you're as strong as you say you are, then how about you elaborate on that by battling with Jade and I, two on two?"

"Yeah," Jade agreed. "We'll see what really matters here—empathy or power."

Silver smirked again, chuckling a bit. "You're on." He pulled out two Poke` Balls and threw them, yelling, "Quilava, Gastly, stand by!" as the Volcano and Gas Pokemon appeared side-by-side.

"Marowak, I choose you!" Josh cried as he threw his own Poke` Ball.

"You're up, Chikorita!" Jade told the Leaf Pokemon by her side.

"Chikor!" Chikorita cried determinedly as she ran up to join Josh's Marowak.

"Snap," Jade murmured. "I've got the type disadvantage both ways!"

"But," Josh added. "I've got the type _ad_vantage both ways. I'll cover you."

"Thanks!" _Wow, so chivalrous!_

"You rain on his parade with status attacks and I'll finish 'em off, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan!"

"Flamethrower!"

"Whoa!" Jade cried as Quilava sent an inferno of shimmering flames toward Chikorita. "Quick, dodge!"

"Chikor!" Chikorita managed to twist out of the way just in time, and the scorching fire attack went right between Jade and Josh, sending them both leaping to the side a bit.

"Watch where you aim your attacks!" Josh admonished. "You nearly made all three of us extra crispy!"

Silver just grunted uncaringly.

Since Quilava's attack had commenced the battle, Jade commanded, "PoisonPowder then Razor Leaf, Chikorita!"

"Chikor!" Chikorita cried, swinging around the leaf on her head and sending a flurry of leaves towards Quilava, then jumping into the air, spinning and casting a cloud of toxic purple dust at the Volcano Pokemon from above. Quilava managed to dodge the Razor Leaf but was hit with the PoisonPowder.

"Bonemerang, Marowak!"

"Maro!" Marowak called as it chucked the bone it was holding straight at Gastly. The attack went through its gaseous body.

"What?!" Jade cried. "That should have been super effective!"

"Drat. I forgot Ground moves don't work on Gastly," Josh said a bit sheepishly.

Jade mentally slapped herself. She had been battling Pokemon since she was five; she should have known that!

With a slightly taunting laugh, Silver commanded his Pokemon, "Quilava, Flame Wheel! Gastly, Shadow Ball!"

"Light Screen, Chikorita!"

"Marowak, Protect!"

This battle of shields lasted for quite a while. Every time one side attacked, the other would parry it or put a move into play that would reduce the damange. A small crowd of people had by now gathered nearby to watch the heated (no pun intended with Silver's Quilava) battle.

It was when Chikorita took a Night Shade attack from Gastly and Quilava took a Bone Rush attack from Marowak that Jade finally snapped.

"Okay, _stop!_" she declared. All four Pokemon and Josh looked at her curiously. Silver stared at her with his onyx black eyes, irritated.

"What is it?" he demanded.

"I forfeit."

Shocked voices ran through the half-dozen people or so who had assembled to watch the battle.

"What?" Josh gasped. "But I thought you wanted to—"

"Beating Silver isn't the important thing right now," Jade said gently. "Just look at our Pokemon, Josh, they're exhausted." She knelt down and carefully lifted her Chikorita into her arms.

"Chi…kor…" Chikorita sighed tiredly.

Josh looked from his Marowak to Silver, then back to Marowak. "…return."

Silver grunted as he returned his two Pokemon. "I knew you were a coward, Jade."

"Jade, why did you…?" Josh trailed off questioningly. The battle spectators began to disperse.

"Josh, if this were a friendly competition, I probably wouldn't have forfeited like that. But this was a battle fought because of an argument. How am I going to teach Silver to love his Pokemon if I'm willing to run my own Pokemon ragged to prove my point?"

"True," Josh murmured.

Jade turned back to Silver and walked over to him after giving Chikorita to Josh. "Let Quilava and Gastly back out, please."

"Why should I?"

As if to answer, Jade snatched the Poke` Balls from his hand and called them out herself. She knelt beside Quilava after it subsided the flame on its head and back, which made her a bit uncomfortable.

"It's okay…" she crooned quietly as she rubbed Quilava's head.

"What are you _doing?_" Silver demanded as she placed her other hand on Quilava and closed her eyes.

"I'm helping your Pokemon," Jade replied. Josh and Silver looked on as her hands began to glow a rich emerald hue. Quilava seemed to relax a bit.

"Why?" Silver scowled. "Quilava's not _your_ Pokemon. You have no motive to help it."

"My motive is that he's hurt."

"And I doubt _you'd_ do anything to help a hurt Pokemon of yours," Josh added.

While Jade healed Quilava's various injuries, she felt its thoughts reach into her mind.

_*Why am I letting her help me? She's my Trainer's enemy…*_

"Quilava, I'm not your enemy," Jade whispered. "I want to help you and your Trainer both…"

After Jade finished with Quilava, she healed Gastly, which didn't take long. Silver snatched his Poke` Balls back from Jade and returned his Pokemon. Just as he turned to leave, Jade said:

"Wait!"

Silver turned with an irritated scowl on his face. "What now?!"

"Why are you here?"

The red-haired teen's scowl deepened. "I assume you've heard of team Rocket?"

Jade nodded, already knowing where this was going. "I have."

"I definitely have," Josh said quietly.

"Well, they've returned," Silver snapped. "After two years of hiding, they've returned. Hmph, they're weaklings, all of them. I hate the weak. Pokemon, Trainers, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who or what. I'm going to be strong and wipe out the weak. That goes for Team Rocket, too. They act big and tough in a group, but get them alone and they're weak. I hate them all! So _stay out of my way._ A weakling like you is only a distraction."

Silver turned around and walked away.

"That…that jerk!" Josh half-yelled, not knowing what else to comment.

"I'm used to it," Jade sighed, holding out her arms for Chikorita. Josh gave her back to Jade, who promptly healed the Leaf Pokemon, who was sleeping.

After Jade also healed Josh's Marowak, Josh suddenly grabbed her wrist, twisting the underside of her bare arm towards him.

"You're hurt," Josh observed quietly as he looked at a slightly swollen red burn mark, left from Quilava's first Flamethrower.

Jade slipped her arm from Josh's hand. "It's nothing, I'll soak it back in the Pokemon Center." She turned with Chikorita and went back inside, leaving Josh with a slightly concerned look on his face.

* * *

Later that night, after Jade and Josh had retired to their Pokemon Center rooms, Jade was still awake, lounging on her bed with Chikorita and Shaymin sleeping cuddled up together. She was writing in a notebook with Butterfree-print stationary.

_Dear Falkner,_

_My first day in Azalea Town was a little crazy. I ran into an old ex-boyfriend, Chris, who absolutely refused to accept that I was over him, and then met up with an old friend, Josh, who I didn't remember at all! I also battled with a rival of mine named Silver. I forfeited; I'll give you the details later. One good thing I can tell you about is that the Azalea Town Contest is only two more days away, and I'm totally pumped, since Josh is competing, too. I'm going to use Shaymin for the appeals round and Oddish for the battle round. Yes, I caught a Legendary! Imagine that!_

_Well, that's about it for now. I'm half delirious, I'd better get to bed._

_Your friend,_

_Jade Ashera Villerubia_

After thinking for a moment, she erased the "Ashera Villerubia" from her signature, laid down beside Chikorita and Shaymin, and lightly touched the burn below her elbow, now wrapped in a gauze bandage. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep, still holding the notebook that contained her letter to Falkner under the blanket.

* * *

"Xandra, Hileriarai!" Alex cried as the two G-Women got off the ferry at the Six Island Port on Fortune Island, Xandra's Espeon and Hileriarai's Eevee following them. "You _are_ Xandra and Hileriarai, right?"

"That's us!" Xandra replied cheerfully.

"I assume you're the b**ch who booby trapped my laptop?!" Hileriarai fumed as Alex and Xandra shook hands.

"And you accuse _me_ of having a short fuse, Hilly," Xandra fumed. "Touch your computer and you go nuts. So--" Xandra now addressed Alex, "you were the one who sent the email."

"On behalf of a friend of mine, of course," Alex clarified, shaking out her ponytail and adjusting her halter top. "My cousin Alison and I will show you around the islands tomorrow, since you're going to be doing some investigating."

"Are there any particular hot spots we need to check out first?" Hileriarai asked, now somewhat calm.

"Well," Alex thought a moment, "there's Berry Forest, Mt. Ember, Icefall Cave, Sevault Canyon, and the Tanoby Ruins--"

Xandra cried, "Did you say ruins?!"

"Uh...I'm pretty sure I did!"

"Let's go there first thing!" Hileriarai said. "Maybe we'll find more of that weird rhyme thing that looked like it came from a ruin! Slim chances, but you never know!"

_

* * *

_

**Awww! Does Jade have a crush??? Hope you guys liked the newest chapter! The character Lauren was requested by Altaria Fan. Sorry she didn't have a longer scene, Altaria Fan, but she'll be back!**

**Vote in the poll on my profile, and any and all reviews and/or feedback is appreciated! Love all of my readers!**


	11. Chapter 11: iThicken The Plot

**Mae govannen! That's hello in Sindarin Elvish :) Yeah, I know, why am I talking in a language from Lord of the Rings when this is an iCarly and Pokemon story? Well, I don't know! I like Elvish, don't judge me! XP Just read the story and LIKE IT, OKAY? Also, I'm sorry for the long delay in posting this chapter, I've been working on another story AND am visiting Kentucky for spring break, so I've been a LITTLE bit busy! Anyhoo, on with the story!**

* * *

"Conner! I need you to run and pick up Happiny and Magby from the Pokemon Center!"

"Alright, Mom!" Conner replied from her bedroom, where she threw on her usual plaid miniskirt, purple tank top, cropped black jacket, and chunky silver jewelry, brushed out her hair, then grabbed her Poke` Balls and purse and ran downstairs and out the front door. "I'm gone!"

"Don't take too long, honey!"

Conner stepped out onto the sidewalk of her subdivision, and after walking about two blocks, she was in downtown Viridian City. Viridian was a small city in relation to Saffron, but it was busy and thriving nonetheless, with tall buildings and bustling people. Conner passed this way almost every day to collect Pokemon that were under the care of her family's Day-Care Center from the Pokemon Center, one of her many duties in her parents' business. It wasn't always fun and games, but working for your parents didn't give you much chance of getting fired, at least!

"Oh, hello again, Conner," Nurse Joy greeted the teen kindly as she walked into the Pokemon Center. The two knew each other well, with Conner coming by so often.

"Hey," Conner returned the greeting as she made it up to the counter. "I'm here for Happiny and Magby."

"One step ahead of you," Joy smiled, pulling out two Poke` Balls and handing them to Conner. "I knew you'd be coming, so I got them ready for you in advance. They're both doing wonderfully. Just keep Magby away from the refrigerator and let Happiny get lots of fresh air and they should be right as rain in a day or two."

Conner laughed. "Thanks. Ah, yes, I remember when Magby nearly melted the fridge. Good times, goooood times."

"EEEEEEEEEEK!"

"What in tar_na_tion?" Conner turned to face the source of the ear piercing shriek of surprise or terror, she couldn't tell which.

"FREDDIE? WHERE ARE WE?" a dark-brown-haired girl was yelling at an (incredibly cute) guy with brown hair a little bit lighter than the girls. Close by and looking around in amazement were three others: a girl dressed in punk-sporty street clothes with curly blonde hair, a man probably in his twenties with floppy brown hair and wearing a paint-splattered t-shirt and jeans, and another girl with a reddish-brown ponytail who had the same look on her face as people who've just discovered they've won the lottery.

"I don't know!" the cute brown-haired boy panicked. "Do you think I have a GPS built into my head?"

The blonde girl asked, "Actually, didn't your mom get that chip put in there like three years ago—"

"Sam, don't start _that_ again!" the auburn-ponytailed girl admonished. "Don't you get it? Look around! We're in the _Pokemon World, _guys!"

"Wha…NOOOOO!" the blonde shrieked, dropping to her knees dramatically. "I'M SURROUNDED BY ANIME NERDS! OH MY _GOSH_, MAKE IT STOP!"

The brown-haired boy looked around, saw Conner, and did a double take. Conner waved and flashed him a little smile. What harm could it do to flirt from afar?

"Hey, Fred-man, what up?" the floppy brown-haired man called after him as the brunette boy walked over to Conner.

"Hey, I'm Freddie Benson," the boy told her.

"Conner O'Malley," Conner replied, leaning against the counter, still smiling. This guy was _hot!_ And he looked just like the tech producer on her favorite webshow…even had the same name!

"Well then…Conner, would you mind telling me where me and my friends are?"

"Not at all."

Silence.

"Um…" Freddie trailed off. "Will you tell me?"

"Certainly."

Another silence.

"So where are we?" Freddie blurted.

"_Now_ we're getting somewhere," Conner smirked playfully. "You're in Viridian City, of course."

"Are the Elite Four trying to take over the world?"

"Uh…" Conner hadn't been expecting that question. "…not that I know of?"

"What level does Metapod evolve into Butterfree?"

"Level?"

Freddie looked over his shoulder and yelled back to the others, "We're in Viridian City in the anime, guys!"

"Oh my God," the brunette girl squeaked.

"Just curious," Freddie asked, looking back at Conner, "but why didn't you just tell me where we were right off the bat?"

"Well, you never asked. First you asked whether I would _mind_ telling you, then you asked if I _would_ tell you. You never really asked the straight question."

Freddie laughed. "That _does_ make sense…in a way, I guess."

"So, who are your friends over there?" Conner asked, jerking her head in their direction.

"That's Carly Shay, Sam Puckett, Spencer Shay—Carly's brother—and Amber Spier—Sam's cousin."

Okay, this was too bug of a coincidence to be real!

"Oh my _gosh_, I know you guys!" Conner cried. "Only now you look normal instead of all bulgy."

Freddie looked _very_ surprised indeed. "What?" he gasped. "How?"

"I watch iCarly, duh!" Conner replied as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet.

"They get iCarly here?" Carly asked as she, Sam, Spencer, and Amber joined Freddie.

"What do you mean, 'here'?" Conner asked.

"In the Pokemon World!" Amber cried.

"You just can't stop saying that, can you?" Sam rolled her eyes.

"Wait," Spencer cut in, "you're saying that anime is real…and real is anime?"

"Apparently!" Amber replied.

"Aaaagh, my brain hurts!" Spencer groaned, holding his head.

"Chansey!" One of the Nurse Chansey ran up and slapped a band-aid on Spencer's forehead.

"Hey, what giv—oooh, that feels better, thanks!" Spencer said.

"Chans!" Chansey cried, flashing a peace sign and skipping away.

"You mean you guys don't have Pokemon in Seattle, wherever that is?" Conner asked.

"No, I'm afraid we do not," Spencer replied as he tried to scrape as much of the dried paint as he could off of his jeans.

"Weird! Where exactly _is_ Seattle, anyway? Somewhere in Orre?"

"No, it's in _another dimension!_" Carly replied.

"…seriously?" Conner asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Seriously!" Sam said, crossing her arms.

"We just got pulled here from Seattle," Carly explained. "My cousin Jade was, too, a couple of weeks ago. Do you know her?"

"_Jade's_ from another dimension?"

"So you know her?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah, I know her, but she's in Johto!"

"Well, we already know that!" Sam cried. "Where are _we?_"

"We're in Kanto, Sam," Freddie sighed at Sam's noobishness.

"Do I _care?_"

"Well, you asked!"

"O_kay!_" Carly stepped between the two. "What is this accomplishing?"

* * *

"How do I look, Chikorita, Shaymin?" Jade asked, twirling around on the ball of her foot once. "A lot better than I did in the Violet Contest, huh?"

"Chikori!" Chikorita confirmed cheerfully.

"Shay!" Shaymin meeped. _*Ooooh, pretty colors!*_

_*Phooey that she's not letting me compete in this one! Oh, well…I'll ask if I can do the next contest! Yeah! I wanna show off my new Magical Leaf move so bad!*_

That had been Chikorita. Jade still felt kind of weird being able to read her Pokemon's minds, but it was a nice ability to have nonetheless. She could tell if she was pushing them too much, if they were going to learn a new move soon, what they were feeling at the moment, among a lot of other things.

She laughed. "Of course you can compete in the Goldenrod Contest, Chikorita."

"CHIKOR!" Chikorita cried, jumping up into the air for joy.

Jade had spent about half of the prize money she'd won in Union Cave to get a new contest outfit, which she was currently modeling for Chikorita and Shaymin. God knows she needed one after returning that piece of nothing that Conner had stuffed her into. She looked much more modest now in a dip-dyed tank top in shades of green, slightly fitted at the torso but flaring out and hanging flowing around her thighs, a pair of white leggings, and white strappies. She wore her orange curls loose and held them in place with a makeshift headband—a strand of black elastic wrapped around her forehead with a Gracidea flower pinned onto the side.

"Whoa," Jade said to no one in particular as she looked at herself in the mirror of the Pokemon Center ladies' room. "I look like a hippie!"

"That you do," a voice from behind her giggled.

Jade turned to see a purple-ponytailed girl come into the bathroom.

"Oh, hi, Raquel," Jade said, trying to be polite, at least.

"You're competing in the Azalea Contest, too?" Raquel asked as she nudged Jade to the side a bit so she could see herself in the mirror, too, shaking out her ponytail and pulling a couple of rhinestone barrettes and a brush from her bag.

"Yeah, I am," Jade said, adjusting her headband, not wanting to just stand around.

"Great! I'm looking forward to competing against the winner of the Violet Contest again." There was something sarcastic about the way Raquel had said that.

"I'm looking forward to it, too," Jade said good-naturedly. "Which Pokemon are you using?"

Raquel began to brush out her pin-straight purple hair. "Oh, my Beautifly, Rainbow, and Delcatty, Marie. What about you?"

"My Shaymin and Oddish."

"Oooh, you have a Shaymin? Lucky you."

Apparently Raquel hadn't even noticed Chikorita and Shaymin were right there next to her, which made Jade think that the Cooltrainer's response wouldn't have been any different if Jade had caught a Mewtwo, Rayquaza, and Arceus in the same Nest Ball while wearing a leopard-print bikini and reciting the Hail Mary backwards.

"Hmm…there!" Raquel said to herself as she swept her bangs to one side of her face and pinned them there with her rhinestone barrettes.

"Well, I'd better get going," Jade sighed, picking Shaymin up and preparing to leave, as Raquel seemed to have lost interest in their conversation and was more preoccupied with her hair. "My friend's waiting outside."

"Hm? Oh, alright, see you at the contest, then!"

Jade, Chikorita, and Shaymin made their way to the door and exited the bathroom, both the Coordinator and the Leaf Pokemon glad to be away from the Cooltrainer. Shaymin hadn't a clue what was going on.

"Whoa. What up with the hippie getup?" Josh asked with a small laugh. He was, of course, the friend waiting for Jade outside the bathroom.

"Oh, like yours is any better?" Jade asked, playfully smacking his arm. "You look like a Riley sprite fused with a Christmas tree!"

"Okay, first of all, _ouch,_ and second of all, who is this…Riley…you speak of?"

With a sigh, Jade replied, "Never mind."

* * *

_Whoosh, whoosh._

Lauren held onto her black beret-like hat to keep it from blowing off of her head, though she failed to stop the wind from splaying her brown hair around her face, making it difficult to see.

"Stratos, can you go a bit lower?" she asked her Altaria, which she was currently riding. Stratos complied, swooping down through a thin layer of clouds until the ground below became visible. The annoying gale above had stopped, and now that Lauren's vision was unobstructed, she could see Ilex Forest directly below her. With a slight smirk, she leaned forward a bit, signaling her Altaria to land.

Once they were on the ground, she returned Stratos and quickly and quietly made her way through the dense trees. She had heard that Team Rocket had some strange goings-on going on here as well as in the Sevii Islands, so she had decided to investigate for herself. She kept on walking until she reached a small building.

_Oh…so _this _is the Ilex Forest Shrine…I'd never seen it until now._

Whipping out her digital camera, she took a few pictures of the shrine and its surroundings; who knew when she might need a visual reference of this area? She was just about to get a snapshot of the interior of the shrine when she noticed something out of the ordinary about the building itself.

_Hm…what's this? _She knelt down at the entrance of the shrine and carefully traced out a round indentation in the floor. _Wonder what goes here…?_

A rustle in the leaves behind her, and Lauren was back on her feet in an instant. "Who's there?" she asked sternly, unafraid.

"Hn. Surprised you didn't recognize me," a cold, not-too-friendly voice said, the owner of the voice stepping out from a particularly thick patch of trees.

"Oh," Lauren sighed, relieved. "It's just you, Silver. For a minute I thought you were a Rocket Grunt or something. What're you doing here?"

"Killing time," the redhead replied smoothly, lounging back against a tree. "And yourself?"

"Trying to dig up some dirt on Team Rocket," Lauren replied, then looked down at the knees of her black jeans, which were by then covered in exactly what she was trying to dig up—only not exactly the kind she had been talking about. "No pun intended, I guess."

The two had met two years ago after Team Rocket disbanded temporarily, and they had been switching whatever they found out about the organization back and forth ever since. They worked alone together, I guess you could say. Silver hadn't had the word _friend_ in his vocabulary since Team Rocket disbanded, and Lauren was stubborn enough about making new friends as it was, so when you put two people like that together, the relationship isn't likely to progress beyond the acquaintance line. **(A/N: DON'T GET ANY IDEAS!)**

"Hm. So what have you found?"

"A hole in the floor of the shrine. Helpful evidence, huh?" Lauren stood up and stuffed her camera back into her dark blue waist pouch, joining Silver as she leaned against a tree right next to his. "What brings you to this neck of the woods, anyway?"

"Just passing through on my way to Goldenrod City."

"Of course you were. Whole story, please."

Silver grunted. "Fine, I was following this girl, okay?"

Lauren began to laugh rather loudly in spite of herself. "Following a_ girl? _Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?"

"My FATHER taught me manners. I just don't use them on weaklings light-years below me."

_Come to think of it…I've never seen his mother, _Lauren thought. She had seen his father, alright…but he was long gone now. "How is this _girl_ as weak as you say?"

"She refused a battle with me just because I obtained my Quilava by stealing, then she forfeited a match with me just yesterday when she realized she was going to lose."

"Well, on the second situation you may be in the right, but I would have done the same thing for the first one."

Silver shot Lauren a sharp glare. "Why?"

Lauren sighed. "Silver, you've told me yourself that you hated Team Rocket with all of your being. Why are you doing _exactly_ what they do? Steal, exploit Pokemon for your own benefit? Deprive it of the loving Trainer it could have had? I feel sorry for that Quilava."

Silver looked at the ground, making no reply.

* * *

"This place is creepy," Hileriarai whispered as she and Xandra made their way down the dimly lit hallway of a chamber in the Tanoby Ruins, every step they took making an echoey sound.

"Oh, don't be such a sissy," Xandra teased, then shrieked as a Spinarak dropped down from the roof and crawled away.

Hileriarai laughed. "Yeah, you're one to talk!"

"Oh, shut up. You see anything suspicious?"

"Not yet, I – whoa! Look at that!"

Hileriarai pointed to a section of the wall covered in carvings that looked like strange writing. When the two girls went over to get a better look, they saw that the bottom half of the carving had been worn away, only faint outlines of the letters remaining.

"I think these are Unown," Xandra observed, tracing her fingers over the letters that were still legible.

"Well, what do they say? You're better at reading these things that I am."

Xandra read out loud:

"'_When the world is cloaked in unrest_

_Time against space and fire against forest_

_Brother against sister and father against child_

_Sky against thunder and tame against wild_

_Heroes emerge with Life on their side_

_Against many dangers and fights they shall bide_

_One's journey shall bring about a change of heart_

_And reveal that true love is brightest in the dark.'"_

The girls looked at the carving blankly for a moment.

"Well, what's that supposed to mean?" Xandra cried.

Another girl, with long turquoise hair and clad in jean shorts and a white tank top, a female Pikachu by her side, was waiting for the two G-Women as they came back outside.

"Did you guys find anything?" she asked excitedly.

"Alison," Hileriarai sighed, "if we find any more cryptic prophecies, we might as well _let_ Team Rocket win for all the good we'll be able to do!"

* * *

"Nice job, Jade!"

Jade and Josh high-fived as Jade and Shaymin ran back to the waiting area for Coordinators before they perform. The two had managed to wow the audience gathered in the Azalea Town Contest Hall with Shaymin changing to Sky Forme in midair, then pulling off a Magical Leaf and Synthesis combo, all while doing a series of midair back flips. Jade hadn't really planned the back flip part, but Shaymin had been so excited it couldn't contain itself!

"Thanks!" Jade giggled. "You're up next, get out there and break a leg!"

"Oh, so now you're wishing injury on me?"

"You know what I mean!"

Josh just laughed.

The crowd went wild as the Coordinator stepped out, garbed in his dark green tuxedo and bright red hat. He chuckled to himself, then whipped out a Dusk Ball.

"Go, Sableye!"

The green orb opened with a shadowy burst to give form to what seemed to be a small imp, covered in gems. It grinned at the crowd with its vicious, sharp teeth.

"OK! Now, use Night Shade!"

"Sableye!" The jewels on its body slowly turned dark. It slowly built up in them, then seemed to burst, covering the stadium in darkness. Josh was unfazed by this.

"Now use Power Gem!" Nothing seemed to happen. Josh waited for a few moments, then cried,

"FLASH, SABLEYE!" Suddenly, the imp's gems each gave off a piercing light, including its frightening grin. This also reflected off the gems, casting several beams of light around the coliseum. Slowly, though, the Flash overcame the Night Shade, and the stadium returned to normal, with the rocks quickly disintegrating. Josh took a deep bow, as did his Pokemon. The stadium burst into a roar of applause—

BOOM!

"What in the - !" Josh cried, leaping back out of the way of the smoke quickly spreading over the stage. Pulling out a Poke` Ball, he yelled, "Skarmory, I choose you! Gust attack!"

The smoke was quickly blown away by the Armor Bird Pokemon's move, revealing several Team Rocket grunts standing in front of a massive hole in the stadium wall, surrounded by several Koffing. At the head of the group stood an older teenage woman who seemed to be in charge, wearing a black miniskirt, a black Team Rocket logo shirt, thigh-length silver boots, and a black newsboy cap on top of a lavender-pink bob that framed her face.

"Hope you don't mind us crashing the party here!" the leader said somewhat sacastically, loud enough so that a good portion of the people in the first rows of the stadium could hear.

Josh pulled out three more Poke` Balls, releasing a Marowak, Scizor, and Larvitar to join Skarmory and Sableye.

"You'll do no such thing, Celia," he growled.

* * *

**GASP! Team Rocket decides NOW to attack? How in the names of all things fuzzy does Josh know about Celia? And how did the iCarly team get to this dimension?**

**Find out in the next chapter. Bye-bye, mis amigos slash amigas!**

**Again, I AM SO SORRY it took so long!**

**One more thing, I give full credit to WaddleDeeAnarchy for Josh's contest routine! He wrote it, check out his stories 'cause he is amazing!**

**Okay, I'm done.**


	12. Chapter 12: iBattle Team Rocket

**Me: I'm back, baby!**

**Jade: And so am I! I'm just glad that Alex is off of that weird Yu-Gi-Oh streak! She was going to make Brock say "Screw the rules, I'm in love with Nurse Joy!" in Chapter 17!**

**Me: Watch it, missy! I wrote you, and I can UN-write you just as easily!**

**Jade: No, you can't. Without me, there would BE no story! Not to mention you'd probably get killed by the psychotic clowns that people have been threatening you with.**

**Me: CLOWNS? NOOO! *hides behind Jack Atlas's Duel Runner* Don't come any closer, I've got a fancy motorcycle used for the sole purpose of enriching the experience of a children's card game, and I'm not afraid to use it! Um…enjoy the story?**

**Jack: Oi! Someone get that crazy girl off my Runner!**

**Me: Curses! Foiled again!**

**

* * *

**

"Josh!" Jade cried, running out with Chikorita to join her friend on the contest stage. "What's going on here? Do you know her from somewhere?"

"Chikor?" Chikorita cried frantically, echoing Jade's question. _*What she said! What's going on?*_

"Jade, this isn't your fight," Josh replied, his voice and expression completely stoic, despite what had just happened.

The pink-haired Rocket leader, Celia, had been staring at the two somewhat amusedly.

"So, what's this?" Celia sneered. "Some lovey-dovey couple to the rescue?"

Jade tinged red, half with anger, half with embarrassment, then pulled out her other three Poke` Balls, releasing Oddish, Skiploom, and Shaymin, Sky Forme, who joined Chikorita in standing (or floating) loyally at Jade's side. "You wanna repeat that?"

"Jade, let me handle her! This is no place for a Coordinator with barely any experience in battling!" Josh suddenly snapped. Jade was surprised; this was so different from his usual cool, collected demeanor which he had displayed only moments ago.

"No experience in battling? I probably have more experience than you do! You might as well accept that I'm staying," Jade said firmly, crossing her arms. Just then she noticed that over half of the stadium was empty and the remaining people were clearing out frantically as well, save for around four of the more brave trainers who were leaping down from the stands to take on the Grunts.

"Team Rocket's already caused me enough trouble in the past! I don't want anyone else getting hurt by them! I'm perfectly capable of taking this Admin down!" Josh retorted.

"Um, he-_llo!_" That wasn't Jade.

"Oh, what now?" Josh groaned as he and Jade turned to face Raquel, still in her short red contest dress. She had just finished taking out two Grunts' Pokemon at once with her Beautifly, Delcatty, Starmie, and Lunatone. "Instead of arguing, could you two maybe, you know, _help_ us?"

"You want a battle?" Celia yelled, pulling out two Poke` Balls. "Oh, I'll give you a battle! Houndour, Dustox, let's do this!"

"Shaymin, this is your time!" Jade cried.

"Go, Scizor!" Josh added.

"Blast Burn, Blaze!"

"Huh?" Jade gasped, turning around and flinching slightly as am inferno of glowing red flames dashed Celia's Houndour and Dustox into the wall behind them. A girl with wavy brown hair and dark green eyes, in black jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, a black jacket, and a black beret-like hat, with a Blazekin by her side, stood in the back entrance to the contest arena. Apparently her Blazekin was the Pokemon that had managed to knock out both of Celia's Pokemon in one hit.

"Who're you?" Josh asked.

"No one important," the girl replied smoothly.

"What're _you_ doing back, you little brat?" Celia cried angrily. "I've had more of you than I can stand already, always getting in our way!"

Jade whispered to Josh, "Looks like you won't have to take that Admin down yourself after all."

"It's not often that I oppose this organization openly, Celia," the girl smirked. "It'll probably be the last time for awhile. I was actually hoping for a _bit _more of a challenge."

Celia smirked darkly. "You want a challenge, huh? You may have taken out two of my Pokemon, but I still have two more! And do you really think you can beat me _and_ the rest of my Grunts?"

The girl tried to hold back a laugh. "What Grunts? I don't see any."

"What are you talking about, of course there—" Celia looked around, only to find a rather prominent empty space where her small army of Rocket Grunts used to be. They had run away! "AGH! Why is it so hard to find good help these days?"

"Well, Celia?" Jade asked as the girl a bit hesitantly came up to join her, Josh, Raquel and the four other Trainers who had stayed back. "You said you had two Pokemon left."

"You prepared to take on all eight of us?" Josh smirked.

The lone Rocket Admin stared the group of Trainers down, the look in her eyes clearly saying that she wished they were all in the tenth circle of Hell, then spun around on the heel of her silver boot and dashed away.

"WOO-HOO!" one of the female Trainers that Jade didn't know, who looked a bit younger than the others with wide golden eyes and scruffy emerald pigtails, cheered. She spun her Buneary around happily. An older teenage girl with brownish-black hair merely smirked triumphantly and returned her Clefairy to its Moon Ball. The two boys who had stayed clapped each other on the back; Jade and Josh high-fived. Raquel just stood there like nothing had happened.

When Jade turned to thank the brown-haired girl for her help, she was already halfway to the exit of the stadium.

"Hey, wait!" Jade called. The girl turned around.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to say thank you! Your timing was great. Without you Team Rocket probably would have creamed us!"

The girl half-smiled. "I doubt that. I'm sure you guys would have been able to beat Celia on your own…I just got impatient."

Jade laughed lightly. "Well, thank you all the same. Oh…what's your name, anyway?"

"Lauren Silverfeather."

And then she was gone.

"So what's going to happen with the rest of the contest?" Raquel asked as her Beautifly alighted on top of her head.

Jade sweatdropped. _Team Rocket just attacked us, there's a gaping hole in the side of the stadium, and the contest is ALL she can think about?_

_

* * *

_

"Aaaagh!" Sam groaned. "How long have we been walking?"

"Twenty minutes," Freddie replied bluntly, looking at his blue-and-white Poke` Gear, which had mysteriously taken the place of his digital watch. The iCarly team, Amber, and Spencer were on their way through Viridian Forest to try and eventually get to Saffron City, where they could then take the Magnet Train to get to Johto. "Sorry, Sam, but unless one of us manages to catch a Pidgeot, we could be walking for quite a while."

"Why?" she wailed.

"One, because we can't drive," Carly stated.

"Hey, I can!" Spencer cut in.

"Not to mention," Freddie added, "I'm not sure if they even have cars here."

"NO CARS?" Sam cried. "What kind of messed up universe is this?"

"Al_right_, guys!" Amber said. "I think we all just need to calm down and just focus on the situation at hand."

"Which is?" Carly asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That we're tired of walking too!" Spencer whined.

Freddie and Carly just looked at each other and shook their heads. How had they gotten stuck wandering around Viridian Forest with these three weirdoes?

"You guys need some navigating help?" a new voice, a young, girlish voice, spoke up. The gang turned around to see a girl jumping out of the undergrowth and onto the forest path they were walking. She was petite, with an almost flat chest, and had yellow hair tucked into a large straw hat and wide, friendly brownish-yellow eyes, almost the exact same color as Amber's. She wore a sleeveless yellow knee-length dress with slits up the sides over a black long-sleeved top and purple leggings, and also wore purple boots and a brown belt.

"Yeah, thanks," Amber replied. "What's the fastest way to get to Pewter City from here?"

"Oh, that's easy!" the yellow-haired girl said cheerfully. "There's a shortcut that way." She pointed. "By the way, I'm Amarillo. You can call me Yellow, though."

"Wait!" Freddie said. "You're Yellow?"

"I'm pretty sure I am," Yellow laughed.

"Then…this has to be the _Pokemon Adventures_ manga!Have you already battled Lance?"

"Uh…" Yellow stammered, sounding confused, "…was I supposed to?"

"Has Red gone missing yet?"

"I don't know anyone named Red…"

"This makes no sense!" Freddie slapped himself in the forehead. "I thought for sure we were in the anime!"

Yellow looked at the other four and asked, "Do you want me to go so he can…um…collect himself?"

"Nah, it's okay," Sam said with a wave of her hand. "He's just having an emotional breakdown – I rather enjoy watching him like this."

"Me too, cuz, me too," Amber sighed, propped herself up against a nearby tree by her elbow with an amused smile. "To answer your predicament, Freddie, maybe this is just a mishmash of all the _Pokemon_ worlds – anime, manga, and games."

"You're a genius, Amber!" Freddie cried. "That's gotta be it!"

Amber giggled in a very un-Amber like way. "Why, thank you!"

"What's up with her?" Sam whispered to Carly.

"Peppy Cola high, I think," Carly whispered back.

"Ooookay then," Yellow sighed. "What is going on, I have no clue, but…"

"So anyway!" Carly interrupted loudly.

"You said you could show us a shortcut out of the forest?" Spencer asked.

Yellow nodded. "Sure can! Follow me!"

The iCarly team and Amber followed Yellow down the path a little bit longer until they came to another path that branched off of the main road, barely a strip of dirt that ran between the trees, which were less densely packed than before.

"I take this route when I want to get to Pewter City all the time," Yellow explained as she lead the five down the path. "Viridian Forest is pretty much completely safe from here on out…well, except you need to watch out for the – "

_Bzzzzzzz Bzzzzzzz._

"Freddie?" Carly asked Freddie in a high-pitched whisper, not turning around as the buzzing continued.

"Yeah, Carly?" Freddie replied in the same panicked tone of voice.

"What is that weird noise?"

"I dunno, but I have a hunch…"

Slowly, all six of the company turned around.

"BEEDRILL!" Yellow shrieked, pointing at the massive swarm of yellow-and-black striped Bug Pokemon zooming towards them.

"WAAAAAH!"

"Is this what we needed to watch out for?" Sam shouted to Yellow as they ran at a nearly inhuman speed down the shortcut, which probably led to nothing but mushrooms. **(A/N: If you don't get that, read _Lord of the Rings._)**

"NAW DUR, genius!" Yellow shouted back.

* * *

"Oh, I'm so proud of you, boy! That Hypno never stood a chance!" Hileriarai cried as she scratched her Umbreon, which had evolved from Eevee only moments ago, behind his ears. Xandra's Espeon slowly walked over to the Umbreon, who was sitting, circled him thoughtfully, then lightly touched the tip of her nose to his before sitting next to him in the grass in the shadow of one of the many large trees that grew in Berry Forest. The Moon Pokemon purred happily.

"Aw! Cute!" Xandra laughed. "We should've nicknamed them Romeo and Juliet!"

"We probably should've," Hileriarai agreed. "I hate to ruin their moment, but we'd better get back to Bond Bridge to meet Alex and Alison. There's nothing here – not to mention we're losing daylight."

"Yeah, you're right," Xandra sighed. "Come on, Espeon."

"You too, Umbreon."

As the two Trainers and their Pokemon walked back towards the entrance of the forest, a pale green light flickered between the trees, and a fairy-like Pokemon peeked out from behind the one Espeon and Umbreon had been under.

"…bii?"

* * *

"Ohmigosh, your Shaymin is just so adorabubble! I mean, I'm originally from Sinnoh so you would have thought that I would have seen a whole lot of Shaymin but I haven't seen even one in my whole life, besides yours of course!" the green-pigtailed twelve-year-old from the Team Rocket battle prattled as she sat talking to Jade, who had changed back into her khaki shorts and green tank top and pulled her hair into a loose braid. The green-haired girl had turned out to be a rookie Trainer from Sinnoh named Emi who was rather fond of talking. Her Buneary and Misdreavus along with Jade's Oddish and Chikorita were playing tag on the floor, dashing between the chairs and sofas in the Pokemon Center lounge, while Skiploom and Shaymin dozed side-by-side on Jade's lap.

Jade shushed Emi quietly. "Do you think you could be a little bit quieter? Sorry, but I don't want to wake Shaymin. She's just a baby."

"It's a BABY Shaymin?" Emi squealed. "How pre – "

"Shhh!"

"Oh," Emi whispered, "sorry. So anyway, where'd that guy friend of yours go? You know, the one with the dark blonde hair?"

"You mean Josh? I think he went to the Poke` Mart to re-stock on supplies since he's leaving for Goldenrod tomorrow - I think he's competing in the Pokeathlon with his Sableye. Not to mention I think he's still moping about that girl Lauren beating Celia before he could. It must have wounded his ego or something."

"Oh, when's he coming back?" Emi asked. "I wanted to talk to him." She leaned forward a bit toward Jade, looked around to make sure no one was listening, then whispered, "He's kinda cute, don't you think?" She giggled a bit.

"Yeah, he's a regular Justin Bieber, now can we change the subject, please?" Jade asked quickly. She wasn't really in the mood to talk about boys – especially one of her friends who a twelve-year-old was crushing on.

Emi pouted. "Fine, be that way." Her gaze drifted down to Jade's wrist. "Hey, what happened to that bracelet you were wearing at the contest?"

"What do you mean? I'm still wearing – " Jade looked down to find her right wrist bare. "My charm bracelet! I must have dropped it! Drats!"

"Aw, that's too bad! It was so pretty, too!"

Jade wasn't worried about losing a 'pretty bracelet.' She was more worried about how Amber would react when she found out Jade had lost the Best Friend charm on that bracelet she had given her! Not to mention she had gotten most of the other charms from her parents and extended family. That bracelet had meant a lot to her; she felt rotten for having lost it.

"Eh, it's alright," Jade sighed. "It's just a piece of jewelry. I can always get another one."

"Excuse me, Miss Villerubia?" Nurse Joy called from behind the counter. "A letter just arrived for you from Violet City."

Violet City?

"Be right back!" Jade told Emi, carefully handing Shaymin and Skiploom to Emi, then jumping up and running over to claim her letter. She thanked Nurse Joy and hopped back over the back of the couch she and Emi were sitting on.

"Ooh, who's it from?" Emi asked eagerly, scooting closer to get a better look, being careful not to jostle Jade's Pokemon too much.

"…Falkner!" Jade cried.

"FALKNER?" Emi shrieked. "As in Falkner Hayato? You know the Violet City gym leader?"

"SHH!"

Too late. Shaymin and Skiploom had woken up, and while Skiploom joined the game of tag with the other Pokemon on the floor, Shaymin started crying because she had been dreaming about "scary loud voices." It took a few minutes of rocking before she finally fell back asleep. Jade returned Shaymin to her Poke` Ball, just in case.

"So anyway, read it!" Emi practically ordered.

"Okay, okay," Jade laughed as she unfolded the paper and read:

"_Dear Jade,_

_I got your letter; it's great hearing from you again! I hope the Azalea Contest went well – by the time you get this, it'll probably be over, and hopefully you will have won! I think I've met this Josh character you mentioned – the friend you said you couldn't remember. I'm pretty sure I had a gym battle with him a few weeks ago. (It was a draw, in case you were wondering.) Speaking of gym battles, just yesterday I battled a strange character named Chris. I won pretty easily; his Jolteon was poorly trained. He probably evolved it right after he got the Eevee. But what was really interesting was what happened _after _the battle. He told me, quote, "Stay away from her." When I asked who he meant, he said, "I think we both know, bird boy." And then he just left. I'm guessing he was that ex-boyfriend who refuses to leave you alone that you told me about?_

_(Really. Bird boy? He couldn't come up with a more creative insult than that? Next thing you'll be telling me that he called you Jay-Jay or something.)_

_But that's probably a touchy subject, so I'm going to change the subject inconspicuously!_

_Just as a forewarning, me and a friend of mine chased a pink-haired Team Rocket operative and a few Grunts out of Violet City a couple of days ago; they'll probably head to Azalea Town next. I would stay on guard. I would have called as soon as I could, but my Poke` Gear is broken and I couldn't get ahold of you at the Pokemon Center. Eh, that's technology for you._

_Well, other than that, not much has been going on here. I'll catch you later!_

_Talk to you soon,_

_Falkner"_

"YOU ARE SO LUCKY!" Emi screeched. "How is it that you know the hottest gym leader in Johto – or ANYWHERE, for that matter – personally? It's just not fair!" She crossed her arms and pouted.

"Really?" Jade sighed. "Why did his Poke` Gear have to be broken? He could have saved us a lot of trouble and we probably wouldn't have had to deal with Team Rocket in the first place!"

"Well, then again, Roark from Sinnoh is pretty cute," Emi reconsidered, "and so is Blue from Kanto…yeah…and Tate from Hoenn is really cute and closer to my age!"

"He battled my ex-boyfriend?" Jade groaned. "How awkward is that? And now he knows about my _stupid_ nickname! It makes me sound like a talking jet plane on a children's PBS show, for crying out loud!"

"But now that you think about it, Aaron from the Sinnoh Elite Four is really handsome, too…" Emi chattered on, getting a dreamy look in her eyes. "…and Will from the Johto Elite Four is so mysterious…"

"And I don't even know if I won the Azalea Contest," Jade concluded, burying her head into her knees.

"And don't even get me started on Champions," Emi giggled, resting her chin in her hand. "…uh, Jade? Were you even listening to a word I was saying?"

"I need an Ibuprofen!" Jade wailed, though it was slightly muffled by the fabric of her capris.

* * *

Quilava was dashed into a tree by a powerful Gust attack.

_No! It can't be over yet! _Silver shouted in his thoughts, dropping to one knee as his burned right leg gave out from underneath him. For some reason, the injury made his mind flash back to a memory of Jade during their last battle, the burn on her arm that his Quilava had inflicted, her face twisted in pain.

Why was he thinking about _her?_

Who cared? That was then, this was now.

He had foolishly decided to take on the Rocket Admin Celia on his own, confident that he could beat her.

Well…not entirely confident. There was this one nagging voice buried deep in his mind, saying over and over: _You can't do this yet! You can't do this yet! You can't do this yet!_

And right now, with certain defeat in sight, there was another one speaking, buried even deeper than the first: _You deserve this…you deserve this…deserve this…_

Celia smirked at him. "Sorry, twerp, but it's time to end this! Dustox, hit 'em both with Stun Spore!"

"Agh!" Silver cried as Celia's Dustox sprayed his Quilava and him alike with a cloud of paralyzing dust, causing his Pokemon to fall to the ground, twitching and struggling to move. Silver tried to shield himself by breathing through his jacket sleeve, but ended up accidentally inhaling a bit of the dust. He felt his body begin to go numb. After a few seconds of struggling, the last of his strength gave out and he fell, practically begging his muscles to respond. They ignored him.

"Hmph," Celia grunted. "I have to do everything myself, don't I?" She turned away from Silver and began walking away towards the Goldenrod entrance of Ilex Forest. "I have an operation to run, kid, and this is what happens to the punks who get in my way!"

Silver clutched at the ground angrily as Celia walked away, satisfied with her work. He was alone again in the dark forest; Quilava's flame had dimmed.

_Why…?_

_Why can't I ever win?_

_

* * *

_**Wow...I almost feel sorry for Silver.**

**Almost.**

**But not entirely.**

**Because right now, he's a jerk.**

**But he won't be forever.**

**Wait, he won't?**

**SPOILERS!**


	13. Chapter 13: iSort of Heart To Heart

**Okay, I'm not really sure what to say here, is that I'm not on hiatus anymore, but it still might take a while for new chapters to come out, what with us moving and me starting a new school in August. I'm kind of like Jade in this respect at least: it takes a _lot_ to get me mad, but when I get mad, I'm MAD. So if even ONE MORE PERSON bugs me about updating, I WILL get pissed, and I WILL LEAVE FOR GOOD! **

**Or at least make a different account so "IM NOT SHADOWBONE66" can't stalk me anymore.**

**Have a nice day :D**

**

* * *

**

"This place _is _a little creepy," Jade admitted as she and Chikorita walked down the grassy path through Ilex Forest. She had always felt a little wary of this place, even in her video games. Since Josh had left for Goldenrod early that morning and Emi had to go back to Sinnoh because of an unexpected family emergency, Jade and her Pokemon were on their own again. She had decided to go on and get going to Goldenrod City, too, since the Azalea Contest judging had been called off due to the Team Rocket attack.

"Chikor!" Chikorita suddenly cried, obviously alarmed. She ran ahead of Jade almost too fast to follow.

"Hey! Where're you going?" Jade called as she followed her Pokemon into a particularly thick swath of trees. Somewhere, the rubber band holding her braid in place came loose. At last, they came to a clearing.

"Oh…my!" Jade gasped. "Silver?"

Indeed it was. The redhead was slouched against a tree, seeming to be in pain. His Quilava had fainted not far from him. Chikorita was nudging Quilava with her nose – did she even have a nose?

Silver looked up as Jade ran over and knelt beside him. He scowled, seeming to be struggling to do even that.

"Oh, God, not you again – ow!" he cried as Jade gently touched his shoulder.

Silver may have been a jerk, but Jade knew he was no Draco Malfoy. He had to really be hurt.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Silver snorted. "Hmph. As okay as I can be for getting Dark Pulsed, Flamethrown, and Stun Spored all in one day, I gue – agh, do you mind? That _hurts!_"

"Good Lord, what happened?" Jade cried as she briefly turned to Quilava, healing him within a few seconds.

"You could've just let me do that if I could move more than a few inches," Silver snapped as Jade turned back to him, leaving Chikorita with Quilava.

"What are you talking about?" Jade asked. It was somewhat of a reflex question.

"Hmph, don't look so surprised. Your annoying sidekick Conner told you I was from Viridian Forest too, didn't she?"

"No," Jade answered slowly. "She told me that you were from Viridian _City._ And if you don't mind, could you stop insulting my friends?"

"That wasn't an insult, just a fact," Silver said shortly. "But no, even though I _lived_ in Viridian _City_, I was _born_ in Viridian _Forest_. And I have the same powers that youdo."

Jade blinked, trying to comprehend. How could someone with healing and empathic powers be so…so…_callous?_

"Well, that's pretty cool, I suppose," Jade commented, letting the subject drop. "Can you walk?"

"Trust me, if I could, I would've been out of here a _long _time ago."

"Well, I can't exactly carry you back…" Jade mused, her eyes drifting upwards a bit. Making up her mind, she sat down next to Silver. "I guess I'll just have to stay here until that Stun Spore wears off."

Silver glowered at her. "I'll be fine by myself!"

"In case you didn't know," Jade said, "it's common courtesy – and common sense – to _not _leave a person who's hurt, can barely move, and is in the middle of an isolated dark forest, alone. So I'm sorry, but you're going to have to put up with me for a little while longer."

Silver just grunted in reply.

"Anyway," Jade went on, "you never answered my question. What happened?"

"Tried to take on a Rocket Admin. Lost. Here I am."

"What were you doing battling a Rocket by yourself?"

"I…" Silver hesitated, as if he were reluctant to tell her about whatever it was. "I was trying to force some information on Team Rocket's latest scheme out of her, but the direct approach didn't work."

"What is their 'latest scheme' exactly?" Jade was happy that he was talking to her, at least.

"Team Rocket's out to catch a Legendary Pokemon – "

_No surprise there, _Jade thought.

" – that has something to do with one of the forests in the four regions. That's all we know."

_Forest?_

"Celebi!" Jade cried. "That's it! Team Rocket is after a Celebi!"

"…a _Celebi?_" Silver asked, a look of disbelief in his eyes. "That's ridiculous! What would Team Rocket want with a puny green fairy thing?"

"Time travel, that's what!" Jade leapt up and began pacing back and forth, momentarily in freak-out mode. "Do you have any idea what could happen if the Rockets go back in time? They could change history! Raze Viridian Forest so we weren't born with out powers – although I don't know if it would really affect mine, considering I was born…somewhere else - catch an entire army of rare Pokemon to bring back to this time – make it so Red never defeated them in the first place! Not to mention a…a whole lot of other bad stuff!"

Jade suddenly stopped. Silver had said "All that _we_ know"… Maybe it was just her being naïve, but…

"Silver? What did you mean by 'we'?"

Silver blinked, then scoffed and looked down. "I meant Lauren and myself. Don't get any ideas."

"Lauren? Is she your…girlfriend?"

Silver started, looking somewhat disgusted. "Absolutely not! We exchange information we find on Team Rocket. That's all. Why should you care, anyway?"

Jade suddenly remembered the girl named Lauren who had helped them at the contest. "Is her last name Silverfeather?"

"You know her?" Silver snapped. "How?"

Jade recounted yesterday's events at the Azalea Contest. When she finished, Silver said nothing.

Awkward silence ensued.

After about five minutes of nothing, Jade sighed and pulled a piece of grass-print mail from her bag, then began writing. Silver just stared at her, occasionally glancing down at what she was writing.

"I see you've managed to reign that Gym Leader in," Silver commented as she saw her write Falkner's name.

"Hm?" Jade looked up. "What do you mean?"

"You're kidding, right?" Silver snorted. "You'd have to be blind not to notice that he's totally infatuated with you."

Jade felt heat rise to her face; she tried to fight back the blush, but to no avail. She found it hard to believe that anyone would be "infatuated" with her, not to mention Falkner hadn't acted that way around herat all.

_Silver's just trying to mess with me, _she thought. _Yeah, that's it. Probably…_

"A…and why exactly were you paying attention? You don't seem the type who would be interested in other people's relationships."

Silver's reply was nothing but a grunt and then silence.

With a sigh, Jade resumed writing her letter, describing to Falkner the mishap at the contest, telling him about Josh and Emi, her Pokemon's latest antics, and her situation right now, and alerting him to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity from Team Rocket. She was unsure of how to close the message…

Love? Too deep. Your friend? Too bland. Sincerely? Too formal. Yours truly? Still too formal. TTYL? Fifty percent of the guys she knew didn't understand text talk.

_Agh, why did Silver have to put these thoughts in my head? I don't _like _Falkner! Not in that way!_

Finally, she decided on _"Your impatient friend, Jade," _then slipped the stationary back into the Mail pocket of her bag. Heaving a sigh, she pulled out Shaymin, Oddish, and Skiploom's Poke` Balls and let all three of them out to join Chikorita and Quilava.

"SHAYMIN!" Shaymin cried as she turned and jumped into Jade's arms. Jade caught the little Pokemon, laughing.

"Have a nice nap, girl?" she asked as she scratched Shaymin under her ear.

"_Mmmhmm…that feels nice, Mommy,"_ Shaymin said dreamily as she settled down into her usual spot on Jade's shoulder. "_Little too the left…"_

Jade giggled, then abruptly stopped as she noticed Silver staring at Shaymin, a strange grey gleam in his normally black eyes – almost a glow.

Jade started to wonder, _Is he – _

"So your Pokemon thinks you're its mother," Silver deadpanned. "That's just wrong."

"You…read Shaymin's thoughts?" Jade asked.

Silver nodded.

"Hm…" Jade sighed. "Well, why don't you let the rest of your Pokemon out, too? We're not exactly going anywhere – why not let them get some fresh air?"

With a pause, but still showing no emotion whatsoever, Silver reached under the hem of his jacket and pulled out three Poke` Balls, releasing his other Pokemon: Gastly, Magnemite, and Zubat. While Magnemite and Zubat immediately flew over to join Chikorita, Oddish, Skiploom, and Quilava in their game of hide-and-seek, Gastly floated over to Jade.

"Gas, Gastly!" it cried.

Jade took a moment to translate that through its thoughts, then laughed.

"You're welcome; it was no trouble," she replied. Gastly then floated over to play with the other Pokemon.

"What was that?" Silver asked, looking up.

"Oh," Jade said, "Gastly thanked me for healing it the other day after our battle."

"Hmph."

_Okay, that's it. I'm not leaving this spot until I get some answers!_

"Silver, what exactly is it you have against me?"

"You're a pathetic coward who's always getting in my way, that's what."

_Pang._ Another blow in the chest. Jade decided to take the insult in silence; arguing with him otherwise would get her nowhere, would only cause more trouble. And the last thing Jade needed was more trouble with this guy.

_I'll just get those answers through observation, I guess…_ she thought with a sigh.

* * *

"AAAGH!" Xandra cried, slamming her head down onto Alex's desk in her bedroom. "This makes no sense! If we ever get a case involving cryptic prophecies again, count me out and send Lance my regards and resignation letter!"

"It's alright, Xandra," Alex encouraged, patting the G-Woman on the shoulder. "Me, you, and Hileriarai are working as hard as we can here, Lauren's out getting the scoop on what Team Rocket's up to now, and Alison's headed to Kanto to see if Professor Oak can interpret any of the prophecy. I'll bet she's trying to figure out some of it now!"

_****Meanwhile on the ferry to Kanto****_

"Man, I can't wait to see Tracey again…" Alison sighed, letting out a giggle. She flipped through her diary while leaning against the railing of the ferry. She paused at a page that was almost completely scribbled over with hearts and "Tracey Sketchit + Alison Oak".

Shimmer the Pikachu hopped over to her, and, noticing her Trainer's dreamy state (and the copy of the prophecy and her notes on it resting underneath said Trainer's sneaker), sweatdropped. "Pika pi?"

"Oh, hey, Shimmer," Alison sighed.

"Pika pi, pika pika pi pi pi?" (Translation: Hey, aren't you supposed to be working on what those girls asked you to?)

Alison may not have understood the exact words, but she understood the tone of her Pokemon's voice. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get to it in a minute, Shimmer…" She stared off into the sky and broke out into quiet giggles once again.

A tick mark appeared on Shimmer's forehead, and her cheeks began to spark. "Piiiiiiiiii-ka-CHUUUUUUUU!"

"KYAAAA!"

Alison anime fell to the floor, her eyes deadpanned and her aqua blue hair smoking slightly. "Okay, fine, I'll get to it right now!"

_****Back at Five Island****_

"Yeah, I'm so sure," Xandra drawled sarcastically. "Not even Hileriarai can figure this out! And she's a freaking HACKER!"

"Well, I Zaplooked it and didn't find anything," Hileriarai offered. "There's not much more I can do! You're the once who's better with the word games."

"In that case, we're screwed," Xandra groaned.

* * *

"I still can't believe you accidentally caught a Beedrill, Sam," Carly teased.

"Lucky," Amber muttered.

"Yeah!" Freddie agreed with Amber. "You _hate_ Pokemon, Sam! How is it that you catch a Pokemon before us?"

"Because shut up!" Sam snapped, glancing back at the Beedrill hovering loyally behind her as she, Carly, Freddie, and Amber made their way down the quiet evening streets of Cerulean City. "I dunno, it _is_ kind of cute. Looks like it could be a good partner in torturing Freddie." She smiled slyly at the thought. Freddie's expression turned a bit nervous as he eyed the Beedrill's stingers.

"Sam, be good," Carly sighed.

"So," Freddie asked, "which Pokemon are you gonna catch first, Amber?"

"I'm thinking about Vulpix or Growlithe," Amber replied, winding a second elastic around her auburn ponytail. "I want ultra fire power right from the start!"

"I'm just glad we're almost to Saffron City," Sam said. "I, for one, have had enough of walking for about a year!"

What happened to Spencer, you may ask? He got hurled back into the "real" world due to an accident involving Viridian Forest, a prank-loving Mew, and a Jigglypuff who somehow knew the song "No Strangers to Love." Don't ask for details.

"I know it's kind of late to be thinking about this, guys," Freddie spoke up, "but don't you think we should phone Jade and tell her we're here? It kind of slipped my mind."

"CRAP!" Amber cried. "I needed to tell her something really important I found out before we left, too!"

"Wha – oh, great," Freddie groaned. "THAT important thing? You forgot?"

"What was it?" Carly asked. "And…how important was it?"

"_Very_ important!" Amber replied. "I gotta call her right now! Freddie, Poke` Gear, please!"

"How come you get to work the Poke` Gear?" Freddie whined.

"Because _I'm _the _real_ Poke`maniac around here, and you know I could hurt you and coerce Sam and her Beedrill into helping if you don't give it to me!"

Two seconds later, Amber was holding Freddie's Poke` Gear.

"Thank you," she smiled cutely, finding the number that Conner had given them that she had said belonged to Jade. She pressed call and put it on speaker so that the rest of the gang could hear.

_Ring ring, ring ring._

_Beep._

"_Hello?"_

"Jade!" All of them cried at the same time.

"_Guys? How did you get my Poke` Gear number?"_

Carly answered, "Conner gave it to us; we're here, too!"

"…_WHAT? Where are you?"_

"Cerulean City," Sam said.

Amber added, "We're on our way to Saffron to take the Magnet Train to Johto so we can find you! Oh, and Sam caught a Beedrill. But enough about us, where are you?"

"_In Ilex Forest with Silver – "_

"SILVER?" Amber shrieked. "You mean the totally hot yet crap-for-personality rival?"

"…_Amber, you were on speaker."_

Amber's face went magenta. "Oh…sorry…but it's true!"

"_Amber! Stop it!"_

"And," Freddie put in, "Amber and I needed to tell you something urgent!"

"_Oh? How urgent?"_

"And," Amber said, her voice wobbling slightly from embarrassment, "it involves Silver! Remember that event we both got the Wi-Fi distribution Celebi for, but never got to actually do it because that was the night we flew in to Seattle from New Orleans?"

"_Yeah? Keep going."_

"Well, it was an event that took you three years into the past, andit turns out that Silver is Gi – "

_Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep._

"Jade?" Amber asked. "Oh, Jaaaade? ...What the heck? She hung up on me!"

* * *

"Hey!" Jade snapped. "Can I have my Poke`Gear back, please? And what was that about, I was in the middle of a – "

Silver stood up somewhat stiffly, returned his Pokemon, threw Jade's Poke` Gear back into her hands almost hard enough to knock her over, then walked off back into the darkness of Ilex Forest, not without difficulty.

Jade could tell that he knew she wouldn't follow him.

She groaned as she tried to turn the Poke` Gear back on. "Great, it's broken! And what was that all about?" With a frustrated sigh, she fell into the grass on her back. "How did that Stun Spore wear off so fast, anyway? I wanted to try to get inside his head a little at least! ...Lemme guess; he had an adrenaline rush, it's very common, and I can Zaplook it. Like I haven't heard _that _one before."

* * *

**Hooray for _Twilight_ movie references! You don't like it? Get over yourself and go pick on some fangirl your own size!**


	14. Chapter 14: iBreak The Wall

**Guess which wall I'm talking about =)**

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* * *

**

_Ding-dong!_

I'll get it, Professor!" Tracey Sketchit called back towards Professor Oak's office. He stood and put his in-progress sketch aside.

"Thank you, Tracey!" Professor Oak called back.

Tracey opened the front door only to have a streak of yellow leap right at his face. Reacting almost spastically, he threw out his arms and managed to catch it quite by accident.

"Pika!" the Pikachu he had caught cried.

Tracey laughed. "Well, who do we have here?"

"Hey, Tracey!" An aqua-haired girl hopped up onto the front porch. "I see you found Shimmer!"

"Hey yourself, Alison," Tracey smiled as he let Shimmer hop back over to her Trainer. "Glad you made it okay. It's been way too long since we've seen each other, hasn't it?"

"It has," Alison agreed as she and Shimmer followed Tracey inside. Noticing Tracey's open sketchbook on the coffee table, she asked, "What are you drawing now?"

Tracey flinched. "Uh, nothing!" He quickly dove and flipped the book shut.

"Aw, come on," Alison whined. "Why can't you show me?"

"It's, uh, not done yet! Anyway – oh – Professor Oak! Alison's here!"

"Give me a moment, I'm – HOOAAAH!"

After several loud crashing noises, the Pokemon Professor emerged, looking a bit tousled.

"Sorry about that," he laughed, obviously embarrassed, rubbing the back of his head. "I had a run-in with a rather disorganized supply closet. Anyhow, it's nice to see you again, Alison. I trust your trip from the Sevii Islands went well?"

"Very well, sir, thank you!"

"Good, good. Oh, where are my manners? Please, take a seat." Professor Oak continued talking as Alison and Tracy sat down on the nearest couch and he sat on the armchair opposite them. "Now then, I received an email from a member of the Pokemon G-Men named Hileriarai Westenra. She said that you had something I needed to help decipher…?"

"That's right," Alison replied, rummaging around in her pockets. "Hileriarai and her partner Xandra found it while investigating Team Rocket…oh, fudge, where did I put it…"

Shimmer sweatdropped. She was used to her Trainer's scatterbrained-ness.

"Ah-ha! Here it is!" Alison produced a folded piece of paper from the pocket of her denim shorts and handed it to Professor Oak.

"Hm," the professor grunted as he finished reading the prophecy. "Very interesting indeed…"

"Uh," Alison began a bit nervously; what if he couldn't figure it out? "We were hoping you could tell us what it meant…?"

"As a matter of fact…"

Tracy and Alison both leaned forward ever so slightly.

"…I believe I can!"

Alison breathed a sign of relief. That had been _way _too close!

"So what does it mean, Professor?" Tracey asked, blinking.

"Alright," Professor Oak said, spreading the notebook page out on the coffee table between the couch and chair. "Let's start with the first lines: 'When the world is cloaked in unrest, time against space and fire against forest.' I'm sure you already know what that means, Alison."

The girl nodded. "Yeah, I think I do: Team Rocket's return and the destruction they'll bring if me, Alex, Lauren, Xandra, and Hileriarai don't manage to find a way to stop them."

"That's right," Professor Oak agreed. "Now, 'Brother against sister and father against child' could mean a family feud because of Team Rocket's return, or perhaps a family separation that happened long ago. 'Sky against thunder and tame against wild'…I'm afraid I haven't a clue there. It could have too many meanings. You'll just have to be on the lookout, in case the events of this prophecy occur in chronological order."

"Yeah?" Tracey nodded, urging Professor Oak to go on. He seemed very interested.

"'Heroes emerge with life on their side, against many dangers and fights they will bide, one's journey shall bring about a change of heart' – that part right there is pretty straightforward. 'And reveal that true love is brightest in the dark.' That is a little vague, but perhaps it means that the bond of love between family, or friends, or even lovers could play an important role in this battle."

Professor Oak pointed to the second part of the prophecy. "'When the doubters find trust, the strong learn to be weak, the callous find empathy, and courage the fearful seek.' I believe this means that some of these 'heroes' mentioned earlier are going to have to undergo these character changes in order for the final part of the prophecy to happen."

"What exactly is the final part?" Tracey asked.

Professor Oak opened his mouth to answer, but Alison beat him to it.

"'The Sun and Moon meet as the Clear Bell tolls, the Guardian of the Skies appears once more as Water, Fire, and Lightning as one roll,'" she said a bit quietly.

"Precisely," the professor nodded. "The sun and moon could have different meanings. It could be literal, like an eclipse, or – "

"Xandra's Espeon and Hileriarai's Umbreon!" Alison blurted. "Or it could be Sun and Moon evolutionary stones, or anything like that!"

"And," Tracey added. "I think I know what the rest of it means!"

"Then by all means share," Professor Oak gave the go-ahead for Tracey to speak.

"Well," Tracey said, "the Guardian of the Skies is referring to Ho-oh, one of Johto's legendary bird Pokemon. The Clear Bell can be used to summon Ho-oh along with the Rainbow Wing. And the Water, Fire, and Lightning could be Suicine, Entei, and Raikou, the three Legendary Beasts surrounding Ho-oh."

Alison blinked. "Wow, Tracey, when did you become such an expert on Legendaries?"

"They…just interest me," Tracey looked down and away a bit, blushing.

"So…" Alison mused, "to stop Team Rocket again, we need to figure out a way to summon FOUR of Johto's Legendaries by means of an epic journey, going through character changes, a family separation and using the power of love and friendship? Man, I've read _Digimon_ fanfics that make more sense than this!"

* * *

"Thanks," Jade told the man behind the counter as she took her Poke` Gear back from him. She was in the tech department of the Goldenrod City Department Store picking up her now-fixed Poke`Gear that Silver had broken. (How rude!)

"No trouble at all, ma`am," he said.

After paying the 1000 Poke`Yen for the repair, Jade went back to the Pokemon Center to pick up her Pokemon. As usual, Chikorita flat-out refused to go into her Poke` Ball and Shaymin hitched a ride on Jade's shoulder.

"So, where to now, guys?" Jade asked as she and the two Pokemon walked outside. "The contest isn't for another two days and we've got a couple of hours to kill before we can watch the Pokeathlon, soOOF!"

"Oh, sorry, I – hey, Jade!"

Jade looked up only to see Josh.

"Hey, Josh!" she returned the greeting. "How are you?"

"Pretty good," he shrugged. "I was just going to let Sableye, Scizor, and Larvitar rest up for the Pokeathlon today."

"Okay. Mind if I hand around? I have some free time."

"Sure, why not?"

They went back into the Pokemon Center and, after Josh gave his Poke` Balls to Nurse Joy, sat down in the lounge. They chatted about nothing of particular importance for a few minutes, until Jade finally got up the nerve to ask:

"Uh, Josh? I was just curious, but...how did you know that Rocket Admin from Azalea Town?"

Josh looked surprised at the question for a moment, then sighed. "I was really hoping that wouldn't come up; it isn't a really pleasant subject for me to talk about. But…I can trust you, right?"

"What are friends for?"

"Well, alright then…I originally ran into Celia at Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town three years ago. She was only a Grunt at the time, so it was fairly easy for Red and I to take her out."

"Whoa, whoa, hold up a minute," Jade interrupted, holding up a hand. "You and _Red_? _The_ Red?"

"I'm getting to that. I thought all the Rockets had left Lavender Town after the incident with the Ghost Marowak, but as it turns out, a straggler had stayed behind and hid out there to try and shut down the guys who had shut Team Rocket down. The straggler, of course, was Celia Hino. And the guys she was aiming to shut down were me and Red. I helped him take down Team Rocket the first time, along with his friend Yellow."

He took a deep breath.

"And, I'm sorry for what I said back at the contest. I guess I was just really angry that we didn't manage to keep 'em down forever. I mean, after all those battles, all that pointless suffering; we finally managed to bring them down, and for what? So they could come back and hurt more people and Pokemon? And now…Red's gone. I haven't been able to contact him for three years. And I don't know if the good guys are going to win this time."

Jade felt a tear string the corner of her eye, and she hastily wiped it away. Moments like that always just begged her to turn on the waterworks.

_Why did I have to be born a darn empath?  
_

She couldn't stand it anymore. She had to tell him.

Placing a consoling hand on his shoulder, she said, "The good guys always win, Josh. That much...I can guarantee." She was silent for a moment, then said, "...and…do you mind if I tell _you_ something now?"

"Uh…sure, shoot."

"I've been hiding something from you…from everyone, actually. Every time I was about to spill it, I lied, and I'm sorry for that."

_Here goes…_

"I'm not…from this world."

"What the…but I remember you from here when we were just kids! That's impossible."

"That's what I'm confused about…you have any theories?"

* * *

"Come on, come on!" Alex whined, pacing back and forth in her bedroom. Xandra and Hileriarai were glued to their spots in front of the computer. "When is he going to pick up?"

"Now!" Hileriarai cried as Lance's image appeared in the webchat window.

"LANCE!" Xandra practically screamed, showing her cousin out of the way a little so Lance could see her, too. "We have a lead!"

"_Great!" _Lance sounded relieved. _"Let's hear it."_

"Well," Hileriarai said, "remember the cryptic prophecy that we found?"

"_Yeah, go on…"_

Alex popped in. "My cousin Alison took it to Professor Oak for translation and now we know what most of it means! And I know this is totally off topic, but I'm like your biggest fan!"

Lance laughed a bit nervously. _"Well, I'm flattered, I think."_

"It's true what they say," Hileriarai muttered under her breath. "Fangirls ruin everything."

_"But back on subject,"_Lance said, _"what exactly did it mean?"_

"Alison just emailed it to us a few minutes ago," Xandra cried. "In order to defeat Team Rocket, we have to summon four of Johto's Legendary Pokemon by means of an epic journey, going through character changes, a family tragedy, and using two magical items and the power of love and friendship!"

Lance blinked. _"…alright, I've read _Digimon_ fanfics that make more sense than that."_

"That's exactly what Alison and I both said," Hileriarai sighed.

"_But,"_ Lance continued, _"at least we know something else. I found out Team Rocket's plan!"_

"You DID?" all three girls screeched at the same time.

"_Yup,"_ Lance nodded. _"A teenager who refused to identify herself told me when I was investigating in Ecruteak City. She said that Team Rocket's out to capture a Celebi and use its Time Travel to change history."_

"That explains the pictures of the forest that I hacked!" Hileriarai exclaimed. "And all the audio files I found in the Radio Tower's mainframe that mentioned the Voice of the Forest!"

"_Not to mention, Carissa gave me some info about Celia Hino's whereabouts. She's hiding out in Olivine City and is going to be attending a party on the S.S. Anne in two weeks."_

Xandra thought for a moment, then turned to Hileriarai and smirked.

"Well, cuz? You ready to go back undercover?"

Hileriarai smirked back. "You know it!"

* * *

Jade blinked. "Okay, so you think I started out in this universe, then got flung into America for no apparent reason and lost my memory of ever having lived here, then got pulled _back_ here for no apparent reason? Good Lord, I sound like a Mary Sueish original character in a crappy fanfic written by an insane talentless fangirl!"

"Well, it's the best I could come up with," Josh shrugged.

* * *

**Me: Congratulations, you have just read the first break-the-fourth-wall chapter of iChooseYou!**

**Emi and Alex: HOORAY FOR INSANE FANGIRLS!**

**Me: Alright, that's it! Bubbly pre-teen character and Author Avatar character, you'd better get back in the story right now before I unwrite you! You're breaking the laws of physics!  
**

**Emi and Alex: Screw the rules, we have _anime_ physics!**

**Me: AND QUIT THE YU-GI-OH ABRIDGED REFERENCES!**

**Silver: You guys redefine what it means to be a moron.**

**Falkner: I think LittleKuriboh is gonna sue somebody...  
**

**Me: YOU TOO, YOU IDARONS, OR I'M GONNA FINED A NEW RIVAL _AND_ LOVE INTEREST AND MAKE YOU DO THE CARAMELLDANSEN ON YOUR WAY OUT THE DOOR!  
**

**Silver: ...  
**

**Falkner: ...**

**Me: Yeah, that's what I thought.**


End file.
